Emergency measures had to be taken to stop Nottingham prison from spinning out of control because of unrest among inmates last September, inspectors have revealed.
Nick Hardwick, the chief inspector of prisons, said that a week before a snap inspection in September, three wings at the prison had been locked down for three days “because of what the governor described as prisoner ill-discipline”.
The emergency measures were implemented to enable 30 prisoners who had been identified by security intelligence as “problematic” to be moved elsewhere.
Hardwick said that in six months to August last year more than 60 serious incidents had been recorded at the prison, including a hostage situation, several cases in which barricades were erected on residential units, and high numbers of assaults on staff.
“Given the scale of the immediate threat to the order and control of the prison, this was a proportionate measure that was managed reasonably,” Hardwick said in a report published on Tuesday. “While this quite extreme measure had helped, it was indicative of the problems the prison faced.”
The report reveals serious concerns about the jail, which is described as a “frontline prison receiving prisoners directly from the streets” and which holds just over 1,000 inmates.
The inspectors found poor conditions inside the Victorian prison despite it having been largely rebuilt by 2010.
The prison grounds are described as bleak and littered, and cells were routinely overcrowded, poorly equipped and in a poor decorative state. Showers and toilets were dirty.
They also report high levels of violence, with more than 40% of prisoners saying they had been victimised by other inmates. The amount of time that prisoners could spend outside their cells was limited and unpredictable, and staff shortages led to half the prisoners being locked up in their cells doing nothing on some days. Many prisoners could spend up to 21 hours a day confined to their cells.
Hardwick said: “At the time of our inspection Nottingham prison was in a very difficult place. The prison faced challenges common to many other prisons, but was failing in its core responsibilities. The prison was not safe enough, conditions were not good enough, prisoners were not sufficiently active and not enough was done to manage risks and reduce the likelihood of offending.
“Since our inspection, the National Offender Management Service [Noms] has taken action to try to stabilise the prison. We will return to the prison much more quickly than usual to assess progress.”
Michael Spurr, chief executive of Noms, agreed Nottingham’s performance had fallen below acceptable standards. He said: “Immediately before the unannounced visit we had deployed additional managers and staff to the prison to support the governor to improve conditions, and we took swift action in response to the inspection findings to further address safety issues and to provide a more purposeful and consistent regime for prisoners. As a result the prison is now cleaner, calmer and safer.”
Juliet Lyon, of the Prison Reform Trust, said it was dangerous to have a system “so beleaguered by budget cuts and staff shortages that senior managers are forced into plate-spinning, where they must deploy scarce resources to shore up one establishment only to find another prison starting to spin out of control.”
