HMIP Inspections of Maidstone

The prison was last inspected in October 2022, the full report can be read at the Ministry of Justice web site, just follow the links below. In his report the inspector said.

Maidstone is a category C training prison that held 579 foreign national offenders at the time of our inspection, many of whom were likely to be deported at the end of their sentences.

The prison is more than 200 years old and some of the original, dark, cavernous, and sometimes damp cells remained, with poor ventilation and little natural light. These spartan conditions were, in part, mitigated by very high standards of cleanliness and the fact that most prisoners were in single cells. There was also a programme to improve the showers which meant they were mostly better than we saw in our last visit.

The governor, well-liked by both prisoners and staff, had arrived just six months before the inspection and had begun to make improvements, setting clear, suitable and well-communicated priorities.

This included an improvement in the regime, which meant that since September, prisoners in work or education were out of their cells for seven hours and 45 minutes a day, while those who were unemployed had four hours. This was much better than we had seen in most of our recent category C inspections. The provision of suitable work or education was rated inadequate by Ofsted and the provider had failed to provide a curriculum that fitted with labour shortages in the community or took into account the restrictions on working for prisoners whose immigration status was in doubt. This situation had not improved since our last inspection in 2018 and reflected the poor service that was being provided by the education contractor. For example, there was no English teacher – a huge loss given the nature of the population – and there was no strategy in place to teach prisoners to read.

In our survey, the number of prisoners who told us that staff treated them with respect had reduced compared with our last inspection and this finding was backed up by our observations on the wings and in many discussions with prisoners. There were some excellent officers who engaged with the men very well and the atmosphere in the prison was mostly good, but some staff did not appear to understand the needs of this group of prisoners, particularly the many who were held over tariff or who were contesting their immigration status. We were told of cases where prisoners had reported to officers that they were feeling depressed and were told to fill out an application form to mental health services.

The anxiety of prisoners in Maidstone was increased by Home Office delays in processing their cases. Mechanisms for releasing prisoners who had been assessed as having the highest level of evidenced risk under the Adults at Risk policy were not fully functioning, meaning that some over-tariff prisoners were being held despite assessments revealing that continued incarceration was damaging their mental health. The complaints and applications system was in disarray, adding to the frustrations of prisoners Thirty-six per cent of prisoners from Maidstone were released back into the community, yet the level of support that they receive was very limited because prison offender managers could not begin planning this process until the Home Office had made a decision about their continued status.

Our most concerning finding was that there was limited use of the translation service by staff. This meant that some potentially vulnerable prisoners, who may have been at risk of suicide or self-harm, were not adequately assessed or triaged, particularly when they first came into the prison. Key documents from the Home Office relating to prisoners’ cases were only printed in English and some men told us they had been asked to sign documents that they did not understand.

Although this report contains some disappointing findings, with a new and effective governor in place I was left with the sense that Maidstone is a prison that will continue to improve. I hope this report will be used as a springboard to drive forward progress.

Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
November 2022

 

The inspectors also provided a list of their key concerns

 

What needs to improve at HMP Maidstone

 

During this inspection we identified 14 key concerns, of which five 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. Staff did not have enough understanding of or react effectively to the particular needs of the population of this jail in which prisoners were often vulnerable, anxious and distressed.
  2. Professional interpretation services were not used enough. The experience of those who spoke little or no English was poor.
  3. The systems for dealing with prisoners’ applications and complaints were ineffective and were the cause of much frustration.
  4. External hospital appointments and orders for medical equipment were not managed well. Staff had not followed up some important referrals and orders for equipment, with negative effects on the health and well-being of some patients.
  5. There were not enough staff in education, skills and work to plan and teach a curriculum that fully met the needs of the population and to bring about the necessary improvements in quality and performance. Leaders had not reviewed their curriculum offer to make sure that it was of high quality and relevant to the needs of the population.

Key concerns

  1. The oversight and scrutiny of the use of force were weak. Poor practice was often not identified and learning from incidents was not passed on to staff so that they could improve their performance.
  2. Too many staff were passive or distant in their interactions with prisoners. Key work sessions were not frequent enough, nor always properly focused or helpful in dealing with the individual’s issues.
  3. Although there had been some improvements to living conditions, some parts of the estate were barely fit for purpose. Some cells were too small, damp and cold with damaged windows, no toilet screening and damaged furniture. Many showers were in a poor state.
  4. The food was unpopular with prisoners and had deteriorated since the last inspection. Some poor practice in the serving of meals prejudiced food safety.
  5. The delivery of some areas of the pharmacy service was not effective. In the absence of adequate professional oversight, there were some deficiencies in the recording and control of the use of medicines.
  6. Leaders and managers had not improved the quality of the education, skills and work provision to bring the teaching that prisoners received to a good standard. The quality of education and vocational lessons was too variable. Some teachers did not check learning effectively and did not support prisoners to improve their knowledge and skills.
  7. Leaders did not ensure that prisoners accessed education, skills and work activities appropriate to their identified needs, in a timely and sequenced way. Staff did not allocate prisoners to the activities identified as most appropriate for them. Leaders did not maximise activity spaces and more than a fifth of prisoners were unemployed.
  8. There were no programmes to address offending behaviour. Many prisoners needing such a course could not move to a prison which delivered it. As a result, they were unable to progress with their sentence.
  9. Prisoners’ resettlement needs were not always met, especially in key areas such as housing and benefits, despite good systems to identify them.

Return to Maidstone 

To read the full report follow the link below

  • Inspection report (715 kB), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Maidstone by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (3 – 14 October 2022)
  • HMP Maidstone (1.01 MB), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Maidstone (8, 9, 15–19 October 2018) 
  • HMP Maidstone (PDF, 1.18 MB), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Maidstone (3 – 14 August 2015)
  • HMP Maidstone, Announced inspection of HMP Maidstone (19 – 23 September 2011)
  • HMP Maidstone, Unannounced short follow-up inspection of HMP Maidstone (14-16 September 2009

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