National Preventive Mechanism Eleventh Annual Report 2019–20
less than a quarter of prisoners said they
received 10 hours a day out of cell.128
Of the adult male establishments inspected
by HMI Prisons during the year, fewer than
half had rehabilitation and release planning
which was judged to be good or reasonably
good. In 2019–20, local and category C
training prisons performed more poorly than
other types of establishment inspected by
HMI Prisons. Most open prisons performed
well, but homelessness or unstable
accommodation on release continued to be
a serious problem across the estate, with
some local resettlement prisons releasing
nearly half of all prisoners to homelessness
or temporary accommodation.129 HMP
Liverpool, however, had worked hard to
develop a meaningful relationship with the
local authority and 85% of its prisoners were
released into settled accommodation.
HMI Prisons was concerned that systemic
problems with the offender assessment
system (OASys) continued to hinder the
prompt completion of assessments by HMPPS
which manage a prisoner’s risk, impeding all
subsequent aspects of prisoner progression
and risk management. Inspections identified
large numbers of prisoners without an upto-date OASys, affecting as many as 50% of
eligible prisoners at HMP Pentonville and 60%
at HMP Bullingdon.130
In March 2019, the opening of a new
separate unit designated for transgender
women assessed as high risk was
announced at HMP & YOI Downview.
The unit had been earmarked for
development as a community health and
well-being centre, but these plans were
paused. The local IMB was highly critical of
the short notice re-designation of the wing,
leading to continued issues with health care.
There were high levels of self-harm in the
first three months of the unit opening.131
In July 2019, the guidance for the care
and management of individuals who are
transgender was updated.132
HMI Prisons reported that, overall, the
outcomes in the five women’s prisons
inspected during the year were good or
reasonably good in the areas of safety,
respect and purposeful activity. Levels of
self-harm remained high in the closed
prisons inspected, which was often
attributed to a small number of women
with very complex needs. Significantly more
prisoners in women’s than men’s prisons
(39% compared to 19%) reported being
subject to ACCT case management. ACCT
case management was found to be good
overall, but the quality of some entries in
the records was inadequate. Staff-prisoner
relationships remained a strength in
women’s prisons.133
128 HMI Prisons, October 2020, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons 2019-20 Annual Report, https://www.
justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/10/HMI-Prisons_Annual-Report-and-Accounts2019-20-WEB.pdf [accessed 30/10/2020]
129 HMI Prisons, October 2020, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons 2019-20 Annual Report, https://www.
justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/10/HMI-Prisons_Annual-Report-and-Accounts2019-20-WEB.pdf [accessed 30/10/2020]
130 HMI Prisons, October 2020, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons 2019-20 Annual Report, https://www.
justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/10/HMI-Prisons_Annual-Report-and-Accounts2019-20-WEB.pdf [accessed 30/10/2020]
131 IMB, December 2019, Annual report of the IMB at HMP/YOI Downview, https://www.imb.org.uk/downview-2018-19annual-report-published/ [accessed 24/08/2020]
132 Gov.uk (webpage last updated 27 January 2020), Guidance: The care and management of individuals who are transgender
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-care-and-management-of-individuals-who-are-transgender [accessed
30/10/2020]
133 HMI Prisons, October 2020, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons 2019-20 Annual Report, https://www.
justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/10/HMI-Prisons_Annual-Report-and-Accounts2019-20-WEB.pdf [accessed 30/10/2020]
42
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