Watchdog says violence and drug use at HMP Leicester are still an issue
Inspectors carried out a surprise inspection in August
The level of violence and drug use at HMP Leicester is too high, a watchdog has found.
The findings come from HM Chief Inspector of Prisons after it undertook an unannounced inspection at HMP Leicester in August. During the visit, inspectors noted that the use of force at the prison was too high, and the prison had “the highest assault rate among comparable reception prisons”.
At the time of the inspection, the Victorian-era prison held 328 adult men, whose ages ranged from 21 to 68.
In the report published on Monday (November 17), inspectors also noted that the positive mandatory drug testing rate was 29 per cent and there were “persistent delays in providing substance misuse support”. It added that drug strategy meetings “lacked effective leadership or meaningful follow up action”.
Levels of violence, the watchdog said, were the highest of any comparable reception prison (a reception prison processes new arrivals into the prison system, where they are assessed and then moved on to another prison).
In the previous 12 months, the report said there had been 114 assaults on staff and 143 on prisoners, “both of which had risen since the last inspection”. It added “the assault rate was 821 per 1,000 prisoners, against a comparator average of 479”.
In its response, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said staff at the prison “are receiving extra training and working to reduce violence in the prison”.
During the visit, inspectors said they identified 14 key concerns, of which five were priorities. Alongside the high levels of violence and drug use, priority concerns also included health partnerships failing to address “several long-standing issues”, the daily regime being unreliable, “with staff not always being able to account for prisoners’ whereabouts”, and not enough expectations for prisoners to engage in education, skills and work.
Four areas are looked at as part of the inspection, these include safety, respect, purposeful activity, and preparation for release. The latest inspection found the prison to be “sufficiently good for safety, reasonably good for respect, poor for purposeful activity and reasonably good for preparation for release”.
The watchdog said that high turnover of prisoners had shaped their findings, and the prison’s ageing infrastructure “was an obvious challenge”, noting that “many cells on the main wing had damaged flooring and windows and poor ventilation, and needed to be refurbished”.
The report said that healthcare was another area that raised concerns during the inspection, with high staff turnover rates, high rates of missed appointments and poor supervision of medicines administration.
It said that mental health services were “stretched, and patients often waited too long for transfer to specialist secure community beds”. The report added that support for prisoners with additional learning needs was “insufficient, and too many prisoners ultimately released homeless”.
The inspectors noted that conditions were overcrowded for the prisoners who experienced poor daily routines, “with limited time out of cell, an unreliable regime, delays in roll checks and inconsistent unlock times”. It added “time out of cell on the weekends was even worse”.
In addition, the report said too many prisoners “did not gain the relevant skills for employment after release or develop a work ethic”. They added “the curriculum lacked ambition, attendance at education, skills and work was too low and punctuality was poor”.
However, the report noted that HMP Leicester was well led and had committed staff “but challenges with the cramped and ageing infrastructure, a lack of work opportunities and the transience of the population, both hampered progress and defined the experience of those held”.
It said that staff-prisoner relationships were good, and staff retention had improved. Prisoners had good access to social visits, the report added, and access to a refurbished gym, which was open seven days a week.
An MOJ spokesperson, which oversees the Prison Service, said:”This government inherited a prison system in crisis – overcrowded, with violence and access to drugs at unacceptable levels.
“We are building 14,000 prison places and reforming sentencing, so our jails create better citizens, not better criminals. Staff at HMP Leicester are receiving extra training and working to reduce violence in the prison.”