National Preventive Mechanism Second Annual Report 2010–11 Prisons There are more than 150 prisons in the UK, each subject to independent monitoring by one or more members of the NPM. The prison population rate varies significantly in Prison population in the UK England & Wales8 Scotland9 Northern Ireland 10 the UK: it is 153 per 100,000 of the national population in Scotland; 152 per 100,000 in England and Wales; and only 93 per 100,000 in Northern Ireland.7 Total Adult men Adult women Under 18s Remand Rate per 100,000 85,400 79,605 4,218 1,577 12,300 152 7,983 7,394 432 157 1,430 153 1,614 1,567 47 19 587 93 England and Wales Prisons in England and Wales are regularly inspected by HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) for the purpose of reviewing the treatment of and conditions for, prisoners. In England, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) participate in the HMIPled inspections, assessing education and health care provision, respectively. In Wales, Estyn11 and Healthcare Inspectorate Wales assess education and health care provision in prisons, again as part of HMIPled inspections. In addition, each prison receives regular visits from an Independent Monitoring Board, made up of volunteers from the local community. In 2010–11, HMIP inspected 62 prisons: 53 holding adult and young adult men; three prisons holding women; and six prisons holding children and young people under the age of 18. More than half of these inspections were unannounced. All inspections are conducted against published standards, known as Expectations, which draw on and are referenced against human rights standards. Expectations are based on the four tests of a healthy prison: • • • • safety respect purposeful activity resettlement. Inspections are either full inspections or follow-up inspections, in which HMIP assesses the progress made against previous recommendations. This year, HMIP inspected the outcome of 4,538 recommendations across the prison estate and found that 69% had been achieved or partially achieved. While HMIP generally found prisons to be increasingly safe, it nonetheless identified many areas of concern across all categories of prison that compromised 7 International Centre for Prison Studies, World Prison Brief: www.prisonstudies.org/info/worldbrief/. Last accessed 22 August 2011. 8 As at 31 March 2011. Ministry of Justice Statistics Bulletin, Offender management statistics quarterly bulletin January to March 2011, England and Wales ( July 2011). 9 As at 30 June 2010. Scottish Government Statistical Bulletin, Prison statistics Scotland: 2010–11 (August 2011). 10 As at 28 March 2011. The number of under-18s in prison in Northern Ireland is given as the average population for March 2011. 11 Estyn is not a member of the UK’s NPM. 18