The prison was given an inspection in June/July 2023, the full report can be read at the Ministry of Justice web site, just follow the links below. In their latest report the inspectors said:
Having been scheduled to close for some years, Dartmoor, one of the oldest jails in the country, received a reprieve in 2021 because of ongoing population pressures in the English prison estate. Many of the problems we highlight in this report stem from the costly failure by the prison service to plan adequately for this situation and, on this inspection, it was disappointing to see the doubling up of cells that were designed for, and at our last inspection held, one prisoner. Given the relatively older age of the Dartmoor population, the long sentences many are serving and the already inadequate numbers of work, training and education places, the inspectorate would be very concerned if the number of prisoners increases further.
At our last inspection in 2017, we described a prison that was decaying fast with damp cells and buckets strategically placed underneath leaking roofs. This failure to invest in the infrastructure meant that the prison had not had some of the improvements that we have seen elsewhere, such as the introduction of in[1]cell phones, electronic kiosks, or fit-for-purpose health, education, or laundry facilities. Given the state of the jail, the leaders had done well to keep the prison clean and there had been refurbishment of some showers.
Leaders had not developed adequate systems for collecting and monitoring accurate data in a number of key areas that were directly affecting outcomes for prisoners. They were not aware that there had been a decline in the number of social visits. Recently the booking line had been out of action, meaning prisoners were not able to see family and friends, which is already a challenge in such a remote prison. The monitoring of mail for some high-risk prisoners was not happening and the collection and response to incident reports was inconsistent.
We were very concerned by the failure of leaders to monitor the regime adequately. It was significantly worse than they thought and was curtailed more than 80% of the time, with ad-hoc decisions to keep prisoners locked up made by individual officers. This meant that prisoners often were not allowed outside more than twice a week, and one prisoner who had been on the induction unit told me he had only been outside once in the eight days since he had arrived. This ongoing issue had not been identified by the regional team.
Attendance at education was low, and again this was not being monitored or addressed. The offer from the education provider had not taken into account either the needs of the prisoners or regional labour shortages. Waiting lists to get work or into education were much too long and education staff shortages meant there were a limited range of courses available.
One of the strengths of the jail was the peer work. Prisoners could earn work in trusted positions and reception orderlies, listeners and some excellent work done by the Peaceful Solutions scheme were helping to transform the lives of some troubled prisoners. The report from our 2017 inspection was highly critical of the support prisoners were receiving in progressing through their sentences, so we were very pleased to see a considerable improvement on our latest inspection. The very effective senior probation officer had built a well-motivated team that was offering some excellent support to prisoners. Disappointingly, despite this very good work, access to specific accredited interventions, which formed an important part of many prisoners’ sentence plans, held back sentence progression as they were not available at the prison. This was a cause of much frustration.
Relationships between staff and prisoners were a real strength of the prison, although we did come across some officers whose behaviour was negatively affecting what was a generally positive culture. Leaders were at an early stage of addressing this challenge.
The handover from the health provider to a new contractor had proved unnecessarily difficult and staffing levels were not yet at the right level, although prisoners were generally favourable about their care.
It was concerning to find a training prison failing to fulfil its key purpose: there were too many prisoners with not enough to do and an education and training offer which was much too limited. With a reasonable staffing situation and some enthusiastic prisoners and staff, there is the opportunity to make Dartmoor into a much more effective jail, but if the prison service forces further population increases on the jail, then progress is likely to be affected.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
August 2023
The inspectors provide a brief summary of their major recommendations
What needs to improve at HMP Dartmoor
During this inspection, we identified 13 key concerns, of which four ( they actually list 5)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
- Oversight and monitoring of key areas, such as the implementation of the regime, reporting of violence, self-harm and other incidents, scheduling of visits and delivery of education, was weak. This meant that leaders were often unaware when key services were withdrawn from prisoners.
- The daily routine did not run consistently; key elements, including access to outside exercise, showers, and association with peers, were often curtailed.
- A protracted period of staffing shortfalls was affecting access and waiting times for health care, particularly dental services and primary care. Seven months after the transfer of services, the new provider did not have a comprehensive understanding of the staffing profile or vacancies.
- Leaders did not understand the education needs of the population well enough. They did not offer enough spaces for meaningful purposeful activity that met prisoners’ needs.
- Prisoners’ achievements across education, skills and work were low and there was no effective strategy to improve them.
Key concerns
- Large amounts of drugs were coming into the prison.
- The prison had increased its population by overcrowding 49 cells, which meant that 98 prisoners now lived in cramped conditions.
- Support for several minority groups was poor and understanding of their needs was undermined by the lack of rigour in discrimination incident report form investigations.
- The health care environment was not fit for purpose, with very little refurbishment or repairs having been undertaken for many years, and the rooms used for clinical interventions were unsafe for practice.
- Leaders had not successfully managed prisoners’ attendance at education, skills or work activities.
- Leaders had not ensured that careers information, advice and guidance were effective and informed a coherent plan for prisoners to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviour they needed to be successful in their next steps.
- Support for children and families had deteriorated. Social visits were underused, the visits booking line had been suspended, and leaders were not monitoring the impact of this.
- Staff were unaware of their responsibility to monitor prisoners’ mail, which meant that some prisoners had sent and received post without the necessary safeguards in place.
To read the full reports, go to the Ministry of Justice site or follow the links below:
- Inspection report (1 MB), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Dartmoor by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (19 June – 6 July 2023)
- HMP Dartmoor – report (395 kB), Report on a scrutiny visit to HMP Dartmoor by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (22 and 29-30 September 2020)
- HMP Dartmoor (639.72 kB), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Dartmoor (14–24 August 2017)
- HMP Dartmoor, Unannounced inspection of HMP Dartmoor (2-13 December 2013)
- HMP Dartmoor, An announced inspection of HMP Dartmoor (12 – 16 December 2011)
- HMP Dartmoor, Unannounced full follow-up inspection of HMP Dartmoor (10-19 March 2010)
- HMP Dartmoor, Announced inspection of HMP Dartmoor (11-15 February 2008)