HMP Ashfield

Reports

• NPM-uk-imb-safety1 Jan 2024

  Compared with the last annual report, HMP Ashfield has seen an increase in ACCTs (assessment, care in custody and teamwork) plans, self-harm and violence. However, when compared with similar establishments, the levels continue to be low. In the prisoner survey, conducted by safer custody staff at the end of the reporting year, 94.5% of prisoners indicated that they agreed/strongly agreed with the statement ‘I feel safe at HMP Ashfield’, with only 0.6 % disagreeing and 4.8 % not answering. This is an exceptionally high level for safety and testament to the good work of staff and prisoners alike. 4.1 Reception and induction For the first six months of the reporting period, newly arrived prisoners were housed in the early days centre (EDC), which was a separate house block of 16 single cells for, on average, two weeks, before moving to the main house blocks. In January, Avon D wing was reassigned as the EDC. Feedback from newly arrived prisoners generally compliments HMP Ashfield reception and induction, particularly when compared with their experiences in other establishments. For example, two prisoners from the LGBTQ+ community, both of whom had experienced serious verbal and physical intimidation at previous prisons, reported feeling safe at HMP Ashfield. One who had been at HMP Ashfield previously insisted it was the best prison he had been in. Another prisoner, with dyslexia, told the Board he was pleased that during education induction, they were made aware of support [...]

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• NPM-uk-imb-respect1 Jan 2024

  5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food The Board’s monitoring reports throughout the year reflect that the overall standard and cleanliness of the accommodation is very good. The facilities are well maintained and the wings are kept clean, organised and free from rubbish. The wing orderlies (trusted prisoners who take on work to provide services that contribute to the running of the prison) are motivated and hardworking, and systems are in place to maintain the standard of cleanliness. Although there have been several changes in the configuration and purpose of the wings, the standards of overall cleanliness have not dropped during this period of change. There has been an improvement in the number of out-of-order showers compared with last year’s report. One area that has caused some upheaval and inconvenience is the lack of easy access to toilets for prisoners working in horticulture. The promised portacabin was not acquired during the reporting period. Changes to the accommodation categories following the new Serco contract include the addition of a therapeutic community (TC) and an assisted living wing for older prisoners and people with disabilities. The assisted living wing has included some accessible adapted equipment in the yard. There is also an incentivised substance free living wing. There are plans to improve the signage and training for staff for all the specialised accommodation wings. The TC is the early stages of development, with a deliberately gradual approach [...]

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• NPM-uk-imb-purposeful-activity1 Jan 2024

  HMP Ashfield, as a privately run prison, provides all education, skills and work (ESW) training in house. Therefore, these services, managed by one Serco manager and three course team leaders, need to be assessed as a whole. HMPPS and Ofsted inspections in October 2023 concluded that the provision of the service was ‘inadequate’. Last year, the IMB was pleased to note that, by the end of June 2024, there had been a demonstrable improvement in performance. This improvement was maintained during this reporting period. However, the Board continues to have some concerns. In its bid for a new contract, Serco planned that all purposeful activities (except for retired prisoners), would be carried out by operating a split-week system. This meant that one house block would be required to participate in education, skills or work (tier one activities) for one half of the week, i.e. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings; and for the second half of the week, prisoners would be required to take part in social activities that enhance their wellbeing and potentially aid rehabilitation (known as tier two activities). The other house block operated this system in reverse. The IMB is concerned that this split-week approach is flawed, based on comments received from some tutors and prisoners. These concerns focused on the impact of interrupted learning, which often meant tutors had to repeat elements of the previous week’s lessons due to prisoners’ forgetfulness. Also, courses took longer to [...]

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• NPM-uk-imb-preparation-for-release1 Jan 2024

  This has been a year of further challenges and development for the offender management unit (OMU) and the psychological services team. While dealing with the ongoing prison capacity crisis, both units had to adapt to several major HMPPS policy changes and the demands of the new Serco contract. 28 Reducing the risk of reoffending continued to bring multidisciplinary prison teams together, with regular strategic meetings. A new head of the OMU started in September 2024. Also new to the OMU team of 19 Serco staff were four full-time HMPPS probation staff and a probation manager, recruited from the probation community service. It followed a decision by HMPPS last year to rotate all HMP Ashfield prison probation staff into the community, because each had worked in the prison for more than three years. The HMPPS prison capacity crisis was constant throughout the reporting year, presenting continuous operational challenges to offender management. While PCoSos were not eligible for the emergency SDS40 early release schemes (which allowed certain eligible prisoners to be released on licence at the 40% point of their standard determinate, or fixed term, sentence instead of the usual 50%), many had concurrent sentences for non-sexual offences and had to have these recalculated. A few HMP Ashfield staff were drawn in urgently to help other Serco prisons recalculate sentences. At the end of the year, further MoJ changes resulted in shorter recall times for some prisoners who also had to [...]

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• HMIP9 Oct 2023

  Ashfield is a category C training prison that, at the time of our inspection, held 410 prisoners who had been sentenced for a sexual offence. The recently appointed director, after a period of leadership instability, had successfully built a strong, positive staff culture. This meant that the often young and inexperienced officers felt well supported and motivated, which in turn led to excellent staff-prisoner relationships. Real thought had gone into building the expertise of staff in relation to this often- complex group of prisoners. The programmes team, with the support of the psychology department, worked hard to help officers to understand the nature of the prisoners and the way in which their behaviour could mirror previous offences. This led to better collection of security information which could help to plan for individual prisoners and show if progress was being made. An excellent offender management unit (OMU) backed by consistently good key working with individual prisoners meant that men were kept informed about their sentence progression and understood when they would be eligible to begin treatment programmes or apply for category D status. The wings were well maintained and cells, showerers and serveries were in good condition. Double cells were suitably large for the prisoners who shared them. The provider had carpeted landings and cells, which meant that the prison was much quieter than most. The end of contract stipulation had ludicrously ordained that carpets should be removed so that the prison is returned to its original state; this will result in huge and unnecessary cost and disruption to staff and prisoners. The serious disappointment of this inspection was the quality of education provision. This was run in house by Serco, which meant there were none of the contractual difficulties with education providers that we see in many other prisons, yet provision was poor and urgent work was required. There had not been sufficient oversight of quality from senior prison or education staff, the offer was limited, and there were nowhere near enough places on English and maths courses, leading to waits of more than a year. It felt as though the education provision was disconnected from the excellent work that was going on elsewhere in the jail. Although most prisoners were in work or education, this was mostly part-time, and they spent long periods of time hanging around on the wings with not enough to do. There were some good enrichment activities such as the over-60s coffee mornings and regular staff versus prisoner football matches. There was no evening association, so activities, time in the gym and attendance at education or work took place at conflicting times. There was much to like at Ashfield. It was a well-led jail run by positive, motivated leaders and staff who had a strong sense of mission and an understanding of the needs of their prisoners. There will, however, need to be a reorientation of the prison towards education, skills and work as an essential pillar of rehabilitation. As well as dealing with their offence and the consequences, prisoners need to be given the training, education and job readiness to be able to cope successfully in a world that will, as a result of their offence, remain difficult to negotiate. Charlie Taylor HM Chief Inspector of Prisons December 2023

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