Doncaster Prison "can't be allowed to get any worse"

Doncaster Prison has been described as "very poor" with inspectors adding that "it can't be allowed to get any worse".

They found that drugs are widely available in the jail and that there've been a number of assaults, hostage incidents and barricades with too few staff to cope.

The unannounced inspection in October 2015 came 18 months after the last one said the institution was in a "state of drift".

The report from the HM's Inspectorate of Prisons has now been made public and says "many problems remain unaddressed and some had worsened".

It did add though that there had been some improvements since the appointment of a new director.

Martin Lomas, Deputy Chief Inspector of Prisons, said:

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"Doncaster has been a more effective prison in the past and we saw some very good people during our inspection. However, this report describes a very poor prison. The relative competence of the learning and skills and resettlement providers did not compensate for the inadequate standards across much of the prison and the lack of staff was a critical problem.

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"The director and his management team were not in denial of the difficulties and there was evidence that the decline was being arrested; the prison certainly cannot be allowed to get any worse."

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Safety was highlighted as a major concern with a "critical" lack of staff contributing to problems.

Levels of assault were much higher in the South Yorkshire jail than in similar prisons with many violent incidents resulting in staff and inmates being seriously injured.

The Howard League for Penal Reform says in the six months before the inspection there were 365 assaults and that some of these incidents were very serious and involved a gang of men attacking a single victim. In February 2015 a man died as a result of an assault, prompting a murder inquiry.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said:

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"This is the second concerning inspection report in a row on Doncaster. The last one was awful, and this one is even worse. "Today’s report emphasises how misleading it is to blame the prison system’s failings on Victorian jails. If old buildings were the problem, we would be tearing down Oxbridge. "Doncaster is a big, new, private prison, opened in 1994, but it is already infested with vermin and has fallen into disrepair. Prisons with too many prisoners and too few staff will fail, no matter how old they are. "The Prime Minister has recognised that prisons are failing and that wholesale reform is needed. Action cannot come too soon."

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Prisoners told inspectors that drugs were "widely available" and that legal highs are a "major problem".

The state of the prison was "very poor" with "filth, graffiti, missing windows and inadequate furniture".

However there were some positives to come out of the visit; for example they found "there were many good staff trying to do their best" and "there were early signs of improvement in the promotion of equality".

Michael Spurr, Chief Executive of the National Offender Management Service, said:

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"This is a disappointing report which reflects the considerable challenges Doncaster is currently facing.

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"There have been a number of improvements since the time of the inspection, including an increase in the number of staff and the refurbishment of the prison accommodation.

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"However we will continue to monitor the prison closely through a formal performance management process until the concerns highlighted by the independent inspectorate have been satisfactorily addressed."

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HMP Doncaster which opened in 1994 is managed by Serco.

It holds just over 1000 adult and young adult male prisoners but at the time of the inspection the population had been reduced by 100 as part of a response to the difficulties the prison found itself in.

Julia Rogers, Serco’s Managing Director for Justice, said:

“At the time of this inspection in October, we were already four months into a formal rectification programme with considerable help from our customer, which involved the appointment of a new Director and management team; a reduction in the Operational Capacity of the prison; a top-to-bottom redecoration of the accommodation; a significant increase in staff numbers, and an intensive staff training programme.

“We acknowledge that conditions at the time of the inspection were unacceptable, but today the programme is now nearly complete and Doncaster is a very different prison to the one that was inspected six months ago.

We are continuing to address the issues raised in this inspection and safety has improved, violence is gradually reducing and the houseblocks have been refurbished. Most importantly, the number of staff at the prison has increased by 38% since October and we are no longer understaffed.

However we know we have much more to do; we will continue to work hard to drive down violence in the prison and to support the victims of violence and support those prisoners in crisis.

Doncaster has a history of having previously been an excellent prison and we are determined that it will be once more in the very near future.”

Since last summer Serco has told there have been a number of key changes including "strengthening its senior management team".

It also says the accommodation will have been refurbished by April and that more staff have been taken on.

Prison Custody Officer numbers have increased 38% since October 2015 with 68 new prison custody officers.

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