HMIP Inspection of Wealstun

The prison was given a full inspection in October 2022. In his report the inspector said:

Wealstun is a category C training and resettlement prison in West Yorkshire. Holding more than 800 convicted adult men, the establishment was founded 27 years ago following the amalgamation of two former prisons. Developments since then have resulted in an extensive, mixed campus of 10 accommodation units, ranging from those built in the 1960s to more modern blocks, set within clean and well-maintained grounds.

At this inspection, we found that outcomes in our healthy prison tests of safety, respect, and rehabilitation and release planning were all reasonably good and that only in purposeful activity were they not sufficiently good. This marked an improvement to the safety of the institution since our last visit to Wealstun in 2019, but a marginal deterioration to outcomes in respect.

The improved safety of the prison was evidenced by falling levels of violence and self-harm as well as improvements to several other indicators. That said, self-harm was still too high and the deployment of batons and PAVA incapacitant sprays was more frequent than we would have expected. The prison had also gripped its drugs issue, a source of considerable criticism at previous inspections.

Staff shortages and the inexperience of many staff were impacting the quality of staff-prisoner relationships and while leaders were working hard to improve this situation, staff would have benefitted from supervisors and middle managers spending more time and being more visible on the wings. More work was needed to promote equality in the prison and more investment was needed in the built environment, particularly in the older units.

The key priority for the prison, however, was the delivery of more time out of cell and a more consistent and active regime for this training and resettlement prison. Regime development and staff-prisoner relationships required greater priority in the prison’s plans.

Overall, the prison was benefiting from the energy and stability brought by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable governor who had commendably committed seven years to the establishment, creating a calm and competent environment. Leaders were focused on maintaining the gains they had made to the safety of the prison and were doing good work to fulfil a key element of the prison’s mandate: to manage risk and resettle offenders. We highlight in our report several priorities which we hope will encourage further improvement.

Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
November 2022

 

The inspectors also provided a short list of their key concerns

What needs to improve at HMP Wealstun

During this inspection we identified 15 key concerns, of which six 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

1. The use of PAVA was high. Opportunities to de-escalate incidents of force were often not taken and too many staff were not up to date with their refresher training.
2. Levels of self-harm were high and there was still no strategy or action plan to reduce it.
3. Inexperienced officers were not given sufficient support or encouragement to develop meaningful relationships with prisoners.
4. The promotion of equality and inclusion were not given sufficient priority. Monitoring was insufficient, there were not enough diversity representatives and the quality of responses to discrimination incident report forms was poor.
5. Time out of cell was poor. This was worst at weekends, when most prisoners were locked up for almost 23 hours a day.
6. There were not enough activity places for the population. Too many prisoners were unable to participate in full-time education, skills and work, and too many activities were cancelled because of staff absences.

Key concerns

7. The management and oversight of the safer custody phoneline was inadequate. Out-of-hours calls from those concerned about the well-being of a prisoner were unanswered.
8. The older residential units (A and B) were in a very poor condition and in need of substantial refurbishment.
9. Prisoners were not given the opportunity to have regular key worker sessions.
10. Prisoners waited too long to see a dentist. Demand for dental services outstripped capacity, which was long-standing problem.
11. Leaders had not developed a coherent reading strategy. Prisoners attending education classes did not develop their reading skills further.
12. There was too little accredited learning to provide recognition for the knowledge and skills that prisoners gained. In too many workshops, prisoners were not encouraged to undertake accreditation, despite it being available.
13. Too many prisoners did not have support to develop life and employability skills before release.
14. Not enough was being done to support prisoners to progress in their sentence. Contact with offender managers was often infrequent, unplanned and usually reactive, and too little offender behaviour work was being delivered. There were also delays in progressive transfers.
15. Monitoring arrangements for those with public protection concerns were not fully effective. Their telephone calls were not being listened to when they should have been, and reviews were not always based on up-to-date information, or timely. There were also gaps in procedures for preventing prisoners with child contact restrictions from corresponding with children by letter

Return to Wealstun 

The full reports can be read at the Ministry of Justice web site, just follow the links below:

• Inspection report (1 MB), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Wealstun by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (3 – 14 October 2022)
• HMP Wealstun (1.94 MB), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Wealstun (15–25 October 2019)
• HMP Wealstun (PDF, 942.59 kB), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Wealstun (17 – 28 August 2015)
• HMP Wealstun,Unannounced full follow-up inspection of HMP Wealstun (2 – 12 August 2011)
• HMP Wealstun,Announced inspection of HMP Wealstun (1 – 5 December 2008)