HMP Five Wells

Reports

• HMIP4 Nov 2024

  1.1 HMP Five Wells is a new prison built on the site of the former HMP Wellingborough and is operated by the private company G4S. It opened in February 2022 as an adult male category C resettlement prison and currently holds around 1,700 prisoners. The role of the prison recently changed to include a training function, and the number of prisoners held who are convicted of sexual offences (PCoSOs) had increased to more than 900. This population was being integrated across the seven residential units. 1.2 This review visit followed up on the concerns we raised at our last inspection of HMP Five Wells in January 2024. What we found at our last inspection 1.3 At our previous inspections of HMP Five Wells in January 2024, we made the following judgements about outcomes for prisoners. Figure 1: HMP Five Wells healthy prison outcomes in January 2024 1.4 At our inspection in January 2024, which was the prison’s first following two years of operation, it was clear that leaders and staff had contended with some considerable challenges, not least of which was an instability of leadership. The appointment of the prison’s third director since opening had, however, brought greater order and control, and incidents of violence were falling. 1.5 Drugs, though, remained a huge problem, and the rate of self-harm in the prison was high. Arrangements to support those in crisis and tackle self-harm still needed to be more robust. There were also problems with staff attrition, concerns over staff confidence and capability, as well as general weaknesses in the quality of governance and oversight. 1.6 While unlock arrangements were better than at some other resettlement prisons, the regime remained limited and work to promote fairness and equality needed greater priority. Many prisoners were only employed part-time, and too few left the wings to engage in anything Report of an independent review of progress at HMP Five Wells purposeful. The quality of education, skills and work was not good enough; our colleagues in Ofsted judged the overall effectiveness of provision as ‘inadequate’, their lowest assessment. There were also deficiencies with health care provision and our partner, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), issued 'requirement to improve' notices following the inspection. 1.7 I acknowledged at the time that the opening of a new prison is one of the toughest challenges in prison management and that it would be unrealistic to expect that all would be perfect. Our inspection noted the very real difficulties leaders had faced, but there was early evidence of a growing confidence and a better grasp of priorities. I concluded that stronger governance, oversight and supervision, the building of staff confidence and capability, and a more active and purposeful regime should become the focus. What we found during this review visit 1.8 At this review visit, we found that a fourth director had been appointed and there was encouraging evidence of progress. Although strategic management of some functions was still not well developed, the new director was providing clear direction and strong oversight. 1.9 The staff group had gained in confidence and was being well supported by both leaders and first-line managers, who were now more visible on the wings. Key work (see Glossary) was developing, and support for prisoners involved in violence and antisocial behaviour had improved. Peer-led initiatives were now better supervised, and an ethos of rewarding positive behaviour was being instilled. Most prisoners were now engaged in purposeful activity and, following the recent entry of Novus as the education provider in place of Weston College, our colleagues in Ofsted found reasonable progress in the education, skills and work they reviewed. 1.10 Although improvements in health care had addressed the breaches of CQC regulations, we were concerned that some prisoners did not

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• HMIP2 Jan 2024

  One of the newest prisons in the country, HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire opened on the site of the old Wellingborough prison in early 2022 and is operated by the private company G4S. A modern and spacious campus, the prison comprises seven house blocks, each capable of holding over 240 adult men, although at the time of the inspection we were told of plans to increase the population still further during 2024. There was a significant turnover of prisoners in this category C resettlement prison, with the prison planning to receive and discharge 90 new men every month in the coming year. This inspection was the establishment’s first following two years of operation, and it was clear that leaders and staff had contended with some significant challenges. Not least of these was an instability of leadership, with the prison having recently appointed its third director since opening. There had also been problems with staff attrition, concerns over staff confidence and capability, as well as general weaknesses in the quality of governance and oversight; this had culminated in several ‘improvement notices’ about various aspects of operational practice and a ‘rectification notice’ concerning the delays in building up the population to full capacity. By the time we arrived the prison was far more settled. The director, appointed just six months ago, was very experienced and had brought a much-needed sense of stability and assurance, as well as a renewed sense of direction, to the establishment. In our healthy prison assessments, we found outcomes in safety and respect to be not sufficiently good, poor in purposeful activity, but reasonably good in preparation for release. This spread of assessments reflected the challenges the prison still faced, but we sensed were better than the prison had expected, bearing in mind the upheaval and turmoil of the first two years. New arrivals were treated well, while evidence for the greater stability we observed included falling incidents of violence and staff feeling safer and more confident. Initiatives to reduce violence further required improvement, although some work was being done to help incentivise prisoners and support those on the lowest level of the incentives scheme. The size and composition of the prison was undoubtedly helpful in providing options for the separation of individuals who might otherwise be in conflict, while use of force and segregation were both comparatively low. Leaders were working hard to improve both procedural and physical security arrangements, which included the addition of new resources which we understood went beyond the requirements of the contract. Drugs, however, remained a huge problem, with random testing suggesting about a third of all prisoners were active users. Similarly, the rate of self-harm in the prison was high, although the rate was falling and no individual had taken their own life. Arrangements to support those in crisis and tackle self-harm still needed to be more robust. Staff were inexperienced, and while there was much evidence to suggest they got on with prisoners, they were not confident in their supervisory responsibilities and allowed too much potentially corrosive, low-level poor behaviour to go unchallenged. Key work was similarly limited and while supervisors had been recruited to offer support, they had yet to make an impact. The general environment, and in particular the living conditions, were excellent and access to amenities was reasonable, although prisoners, with some justification, were critical of the food. Consultation arrangements were good and the wide-ranging deployment of prisoners to peer work roles seemed to be useful, although more oversight of their contribution was needed. With the exception of support for young adults, however, work to promote fairness and equality had been neglected and needed greater prioritisation.

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• NPM-uk-imb-safety1 Jan 2024

  4.1 Reception and induction The prison population has been static, at around 1,700 during the reporting year. High natural turnover was increased by accelerated releases under the national early release programmes. The prisoner mix has changed significantly during the year, with an increase in the number of PCoSOs, who made up the vast majority of new arrivals and now represent more than 60% of the population. The prison is now fully integrated, with no separation of PCoSOs from other prisoners. From the Board’s observations, the reception and induction process has continued to work well, facilitated by staff and prisoner-led initiative (PLI) prisoners. The process signposts new arrivals to all opportunities the prison offers and is well received. Most issues arising relate to property following on from other prisons, or to periodic shortages of basic kit. This latter problem has been exacerbated by poor prison management of items such as kettles and televisions. 4.2 Suicide and self-harm, deaths in custody The number of self-harm incidents has continued on an upward trend, reaching 2,326 for the year, an increase of 59%, and with a monthly peak of 271 in March 2025. The number of these incidents which were serious totalled 49 during the year. The number of prisoners self-harming has increased more slowly, demonstrating the frequent self-harming behaviour of a small number of men. The prison’s efforts to understand the reasons behind these increases are still at an early [...]

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• NPM-uk-imb-respect1 Jan 2024

  5.1 Accommodation, clothing and food Accommodation Following Ministry of Justice (MoJ) requests to house additional prisoners, 56 cells that were designed as singles have been converted to doubles. This has caused issues for some older prisoners, who now have to climb up to an upper bunk bed. In addition, there is now a shortage of space for in-cell property storage. The low-mobility cells’ design flaw, whereby the showers could not be safely used due to the proximity of power points, has been mainly resolved. However, issues concerning shower curtains still remain, preventing proper use of the showers in these cells. A temporary fix is being applied, but the Board would like to see a more permanent solution. 5.2 Segregation Overall, from the Board’s observations, there has been consistent and effective management of the CSU during the year. We expressed concerns that a small number of prisoners remained in the CSU for 42 days or over (the limit allowed without external authorisation). In most cases, these men were awaiting transfer to another establishment, and the process for managing these cases has been inefficient. 5.3 Staff and prisoner relationships, key workers Key workers have been appointed to all prisoners but the frequency of key work sessions depends on priority. Key working continues to improve, but is focused on target groups of prisoners. There are still some areas for staff to be consistently acting with confidence when challenging prisoners who are not [...]

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

  Education In the Board’s view, the education department has worked hard to raise standards and address all the issues raised in the Ofsted report from earlier in 2024. New providers were sought and Novus took over on 1 July 2024. Staffing remained an issue. A substantive head teacher was appointed in May 2024, then changed role on 1 January 2025 to lead the special educational needs provision. The current deputy head then took over as interim head teacher. The education department worked closely with G4S to improve the safety of staff, which included improved searches of those entering education facilities and also G4S staff patrolling the area. There have been a number of improvements in the quality of courses on offer since Novus took over. Staff have received intensive training and this has been reflected in improvements in planning and teaching. Staffing remains an issue, and no substantive head had been appointed following the changes in reorganisation. Class closures, allocation issues and staff absences have had a negative effect on attendance and although men should be issued with a negative incentives scheme note, this is not consistent. In the Board’s view, Novus and G4S have worked hard to address these issues and, up to the end of the year, attendance in education had improved from 36.29% in April 2024 to 69.77% at the end of March 2025. However, this is still not at the expected level. The introduction of education prisoner-led initiatives (PLIs) is being [...]

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

  7.3.1 Offender management A combination of staffing shortfall for part of the year and the unexpected increase in workload, due to initiatives such as early custody supervised licence (ECSL) and standard determinate sentence (SDS40, which allows prisoners to be released after 40% of their sentence, instead of the usual 50%,to alleviate prison overcrowding), has resulted in the caseload of both prison and probation offender managers being approximately 50% higher than would usually be expected. To illustrate the level of extra work, there were 174 ECSL releases to plan for in the period April to September and over 300 additional hours to prepare for SDS40. The consequential response to this was to prioritise other, more routine work such as imminent parole hearings and release. As of the time of this report, the staffing situation has improved but is expected to remain lower than desirable to provide optimum delivery capability. Pressures on the offender management unit (OMU) have also continued to rise with the increase in the number of high-risk men arriving at the prison, most of whom are PCoSOs. Although there is no readily available date to show the reasons for recall, there has been an increase during the year in the number of prisoners who have been recalled. A welcome initiative has been the introduction of monthly OMU surgeries on each landing, providing easier opportunities for prisoners to raise their concerns directly. During the year, the number of prisoners [...]

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