Peterborough's men's prison criticised by inspectors for 'deterioration' of some standards

Peterborough’s men’s prison has been criticised by inspectors who have voiced their disappointment at discovering what they describe as ‘quite significant changes and deterioration’ since their last visit six years earlier.

The region’s reception and resettlement prison in Saville Road, Westwood, which had 906 inmates at the time of the 10-day inspection last January, had been regarded as one of the UK’s better prisons.

But inspectors from HM Inspectorate of Prisons say that during their most recent visit they found a ‘struggling prison made worse by staff shortages.

They have listed eight concerns around the lack of staff with about a third of officers unavailable for duty, overcrowding, a lack of health care, keeping inmates inactive in their cells for too long, insufficient education, skills and work provision, and easily accessible access to illicit substances.

The just released inspection report states: “Our findings suggest quite significant changes and deterioration, with outcomes in respect and preparation for release now not sufficiently good, while the regime had become poor.

But it adds: “The exception was safety, where we saw some improvement, to the extent that outcomes under this test were now reasonably good.”

The inspectors say over a 12 month period about 1,200 men had been released yet 700 men had been recalled to prison for breaking the rules of their community supervision period.

They say about a third of those released were high risk prisoners.

Of particular concern was a lack of housing support, with about 30 per cent of all releases going out street homeless.

The inspectors state: “Despite this high level of need, the housing adviser had not entered the prison for over a year and there had been no substantive head of reducing reoffending for nearly two years.”

They also say a survey found a third of prisoners said it was easy to get hold of drugs and a quarter of all random drug test results had been positive in the last year.

The report warns: “Peterborough men’s prison is not as good as it has been in the past, which is a great disappointment.

"To arrest the deterioration, regaining stability in leadership must be a priority.”

Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said: “This was a worrying inspection.

"It is particularly disappointing that Peterborough, which has historically been one of the better resettlement prisons in the country, has suffered for its more experienced staff being taken to shore up other struggling jails run by Sodexo.

"But its deterioration also shows the strain that is on all of our prisons at the moment, with common themes such as drugs, staffing challenges, overcrowding and a revolving door for those caught in a cycle of reoffending.”

An HMP Peterborough spokesperson said: “We welcome the Chief Inspector’s report and take on board fully his feedback and recommendations for improvement.

"Whilst we are pleased that the report recognises the hard work undertaken by our team to make the prison considerably safer, we fully acknowledge that some other areas, such as purposeful activity, require improvement.”

“Since the inspection, we have been working on an action plan that builds on progress to date and which will help us address these issues.”