The prison was inspected in April 2023. The full reports can be read at the Ministry of Justice web site, just follow the links below. In their last report the inspectors said:
Ford is an open prison in West Sussex that housed 382 prisoners at the time of our inspection. The governor, appointed in April 2022, had taken advantage of a lower roll and a full complement of staff to make some excellent progress in transforming the culture at the prison, building the confidence of officers and improving staff-prisoner relationships. He and other leaders were visible around the site and well known to prisoners and staff, and the prison was a much more positive place than it had been at our scrutiny visit during the pandemic.
Prisoners liked living in the new pod accommodation that had been recently expanded, but the older parts of the jail were well past their best. There had been some refurbishment of these blocks, including new showers, but further work is required. The shabbiness of the house blocks is no excuse for those areas of the prison, such as the kitchen, that were not being properly cleaned.
When prisoners arrived at Ford, they were quickly given work and when their risk-assessment was complete there were lots of opportunities for working outside the jail or attending courses at Chichester College, with 136 going out every day. Good links with local employers with support from the employment board meant that prisoners were able to be supported into full-time work both during their sentence and on release.
Improvements that we found in rehabilitation and release planning led to an improved score, with this area now being judged as good. The well-run offender management unit (OMU) provided bespoke support to help prisoners progress with their sentences and a weekly drop-in session meant they could get timely information or help.
Elsewhere, the health care provider was also doing an excellent job with inspectors describing it as one of the best they had seen.
A good partnership with Chichester College provided both on-site workshops such as bricklaying, dry-walling, carpentry, and painting and decorating, and opportunities to join courses at the college. The leadership of education, however, lacked dynamism and led to not enough prisoners getting the help they needed with basic literacy and numeracy, the lack of which were leading to prisoners being denied release on temporary licence (ROTL) for education, training and employment.
Although the prison had begun to consider how to improve outcomes for different groups of prisoners, they had not done enough to understand and address the disproportionate allocation of both work and the best accommodation.
The main complaint from prisoners was the limited availability of the gym, which apart from Saturday mornings was closed at the weekend. The grass and Astroturf football five-aside pitches were hardly used. There was a small area with outdoor gym equipment in the grounds where many prisoners could exercise, but absurd health and safety rules meant that, although prisoners were allowed to drive an HGV or a forklift truck, they were not allowed to kick a football around without supervision.
Enrichment activities such as the choir, art and mindfulness were not well[1]coordinated meaning they often clashed with each other or with work, and there was not enough for prisoners to do at the weekends or evenings. Given the stability of the prison and abilities of the inmates, there is a real opportunity for leaders to promote more prisoner-led activity. Many of the prisoners who are returned to closed conditions are returned because they have taken drugs. The prison has worked hard to reduce the supply, but a greater focus on reducing boredom and providing more activity may well help to reduce the demand.
The governor and his team have done an excellent job in reinvigorating Ford, inspiring staff and making the jail a positive and purposeful place.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
May 2023
The inspectors also provide a short list of their main suggestions for improvement
What needs to improve at HMP Ford
During this inspection, we identified 10 key concerns, of which three 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
- Not enough was done to identify and address disparities in outcomes for prisoners from protected groups. Prisoners told us that access to paid work on temporary release and allocation to the better accommodation in the prison were unfair.
- Prisoners complained of boredom and that there was not enough for them to do during evenings and weekends. Enrichment activities were too limited, and prisoners were not allowed to use the sports fields unsupervised.
- Leaders and managers did not have enough oversight of the quality of the education, skills and work they offered. Leaders’ improvement plans did not effectively identify and drive improvements.
Key concerns
- There was no key worker scheme and not enough recorded interaction between residential staff and prisoners to provide ongoing support.
- Some areas of the prison were unacceptably dirty and there was little evidence of routine cleaning practices.
- Opportunities for consultation with prisoners were too limited.
- The gym and outdoor sports facilities were underused and provision did not meet the wider needs of the population.
- Too many prisoners missed valuable work and study time because of clashes with other regime activities or choosing not to return after attending personal appointments. They did not develop the positive attitudes needed for work and future employment.
- Leaders and managers did not focus enough on improving the English and mathematics skills of prisoners who were below level 2 in these subjects. This reduced prisoners’ opportunities for progression to jobs on release on temporary licence and on discharge
- The lack of a dedicated pre-release team was a significant gap for a prison whose core purpose was to prepare prisoners for release
To read the full inspectors reports follow the links below
- Inspection report (2 MB), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Ford by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (4–20 April 2023)
- HMP Ford – report (PDF) (4 MB), Report on a scrutiny visit to HMP Ford by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (29–30 March and 13–14 April 2021)
- HMP Ford (537.39 kB), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Ford (6-17 June 2016)
- HMP Ford
- Announced full follow-up inspection of HMP Ford (13 – 17 August 2012)
- HMP Ford
- Announced inspection of HMP Ford (29 November – 3 December 2010)
- HMP Ford
- Unannounced short follow-up inspection of HMP Ford (27 – 29 October 2008)