The prison was given an inspection in October 2023.To read the full report on the prison, go to the Ministry of Justice site or follow the links below: In their report the inspectors said:
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
The Inspectors gave a brief summary of their major findings
What needs to improve at HMP Ashfield
During this inspection, we identified nine key concerns, of which four should be treated as priorities. Priority concerns are those that are most important to improving outcomes for prisoners. They require immediate attention by leaders and managers.
Leaders should make sure that all concerns identified here are addressed and that progress is tracked through a plan which sets out how and when the concerns will be resolved. The plan should be provided to HMI Prisons.
Priority concerns
- The prison did not offer enough full-time activity spaces for itsprisoners. In particular, there were insufficient places on English andmathematics courses to improve the functional skills of prisoners whowere below level 2.
- The regime did not support consistent attendance at educationand work. There was no evening association, so attendance at thegym, for example, often interrupted the working day.
- The provision of education, skills and work was of not sufficientlyhigh quality. Prisoners studying vocational training in industries did nothave enough opportunities to achieve a qualification or have theiremployment skills recorded, and too many did not achieve theirfunctional skills qualifications. There had been very slow progress inimplementing a reading strategy as part of the education offer,particularly for those with very-low-level or no reading skills.
- The education, skills and work provision had not been rigorouslymanaged, monitored or quality assured over time. Leaders’improvement plans did not identify improvements effectively or drivethem quickly enough.
Key concerns
- Outcomes in response to consultation with prisoners were far tooslow. Although there was regular and thorough consultation on a rangeof subjects, there was insufficient action to lead to positive change.
- The health needs assessment was out of date and there were a fewareas where the current provision did not align with the needs ofthe population. This included insufficient optician sessions and gaps indiagnostic services for patients with neurodivergent needs.
- There were some weaknesses and potential risks associated withthe use of the in-possession medication lockers and the storage ofmedicines in the pharmacy room.
- Careers information, advice and guidance were not effective anddid not provide sufficient support to enable prisoners to determinethe most appropriate choice for employment on release.
- There was insufficient coordination of resettlement planning in thefinal months before release. There was no pre-release service,prisoners were not routinely screened for their needs on arrival or pre-release and there were no resettlement plans.
To read the full reports on the old (closed) prison, go to the Ministry of Justice site or follow the links below:
- Inspection report (2 MB), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Ashfield by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (9–20 October 2023)
- HMP Ashfield (874.31 kB), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Ashfield (25 March – 12 April 2019)
- HMYOI Ashfield (decommissioning), Unannounced inspection of the decommissioning of HMYOI Ashfield (11 – 14 February 2013)
- HMYOI Ashfield, Unannounced short follow-up inspection of HMYOI Ashfield (11 – 13 October 2011)
- HMYOI Ashfield, Summary of questionnaires and interviews: Children and young people’s self-reported perceptions (25 – 26 September 2012)
- HMYOI Ashfield, Summary of questionnaires and interviews (19 – 20 September 2011)
- HMYOI Ashfield, Full unannounced inspection of HMYOI Ashfield (10-14 May 2010)
- HMYOI Ashfield, Unannounced short follow-up inspection of HMYOI Ashfield (26-29 August 2008)