New report finds Peterborough prison 'safe' for women but flags up some concerns

Conditions for women inmates at Peterborough prison have been found to be ‘safe’ by inspectors who have also raised a number of concerns.

During a 10 day inspection at HMP Peterborough, in Saville Road, it was found that conditions for the 350 female prisoners were generally safe with supportive relationships between staff and prisoners.

Inspectors also found that staff helped prisoners to maintain family connections and that living conditions were good.

In addition, work to prepare women for release was generally good despite the high number of prisoners.

Over all, inspectors declared the prison was good for safety, reasonably good for respect, reasonably good for rehabilitation and release planning but poor for purposeful activity.

But it was found that work tasks for female prisoners were menial, education was inadequate and there was a limited amount of enriching recreation activities.

In the just-published report following the inspection last November, Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, criticised the day-to-day regime which failed to give inmates a sense of purpose with many locked up during the working day.

The report states: “The prison had struggled to maintain a purposeful regime. Few women thought that their experiences at Peterborough would equip them usefully or meet their training or employment needs.

"Over a third were allocated to menial domestic work and few were acquiring useful skills in vocational training or education.

“During spot checks we typically found about a quarter of the population locked up during the working day, while general enrichment and recreational activity was similarly limited.”

It was one of four priority concerns listed by inspectors.

The others were that not all services were sufficiently focused on the needs of women in prison, limited mental health services and limited support for some protected and minority groups.

The report highlighted the difficulties facing staff.

It stated: “The population profile of women at Peterborough was complex, ranging from nearly a quarter serving long sentences of over four years, to more than 70 per cent

serving short sentences or still on remand.

"This placed great pressures on the offender management unit and resettlement staff.

"There were shortcomings in the prison’s approach to offender management, caused principally by the very high caseloads and weaknesses in public protection arrangements, but psychological services had been improved.”