HMP New Hall, HMIP Inspections

The prison was given a full inspection in November 2022. In the main prison inspection the report said:

 

New Hall prison and young offender institution, located near Wakefield in West Yorkshire, can hold up to 381 women, although there were just 314 at the time of this inspection. A prison with many purposes, it holds women of all ages and differing risks: some are on remand or unsentenced, but a small number are classed as restricted status and considered among the most dangerous. New Hall has a fairly significant turnover of prisoners, although staff told us that many women were well known to them, returning frequently and repeatedly.

This was our first inspection since 2019, and while we observed some deterioration in outcomes in rehabilitation and release planning and purposeful activity, this was from a high bar set in in 2019. The prison remained an overwhelmingly safe and respectful place, work to promote rehabilitation was still reasonably good and only in the quality of the daily regime was there more significant work to be done to return to previously high standards.

The prison was very well led by a governor who knew her prison well and was able to motivate an engaged and caring staff group. This was true of all elements of the prison, including various specialist facilities such as the mother and baby unit or the Rivendale unit, which worked with women with personality disorders. At the heart of the governor’s leadership approach was a commitment to prioritising key work. This provided a structure that marshalled and exploited the good relationships we saw and brought numerous benefits to the prison, and more importantly the women held there. It was no surprise that New Hall’s approach to key work was one of the better examples we have seen in the prison system.

Our two principal criticisms of the prison were about the security and quality of the daily regime. Some aspects of security, such as excessive and cumbersome roll checks which impeded access to activity, seemed to be excessive and disproportionate to the identified risks. Good security is vital, but it should be managed in a way that allows women to access the services that will help to reduce risks, commensurate with the broader public interest. That said, the activities on offer were too limited. We found about a third of women locked up during the working day and time out of cell generally was not good enough. At weekends it was even worse. Our colleagues in Ofsted judged the provision of learning and skills provision as ‘requires improvement’, their second lowest assessment.

Other priorities included a need for greater focus on the promotion of equality, as well as improvements to the prison’s public protection arrangements. Nevertheless, this is a good report about a capable prison. The issues we raise are eminently fixable, and we hope the priorities we have highlighted will assist ongoing improvement.

Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
January 2023

 

The inspectors also provided a note of their principle concerns

What needs to improve at HMP/YOI New Hall

During this inspection we identified 13 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 (see Glossary) 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. Too many security measures were disproportionate and affected outcomes for prisoners needlessly.
  2. The daily regime was inconsistent, unpredictable and a source of frustration among prisoners. The regime often ran late and too many prisoners were locked up in the core day. Time out of cell was far too limited for those in the induction unit.
  3. Leaders and managers did not carry out a needs analysis and as a result did not have a coherent approach to planning the education skills and work curriculum.
  4. The curriculum provided by Novus across education and vocational training was too narrow in most subject areas. Apart from in English and mathematics, there were insufficient progression routes.
  5. Attendance was too low because other activities, such as medication administration, showers, gym and health care appointments often clashed with classes.
  6. There was too little support to help women maintain or rebuild relationships with their children and families.

Key concerns

  1. Use of body-worn video cameras was too limited, hampering assurance processes for the use of force.
  2. Leaders had limited insight into the experiences of prisoners with protected characteristics. There was no strategy or needs analysis, consultation was limited and only a narrow set of data was reviewed.
  3. Most prisoners were unable to access the inadequate library. Unless they attended education, women did not have ready access to reading materials.
  4. Women’s mathematics and English skills were not being developed sufficiently at work or on some vocational courses.
  5. There was insufficient support for those with a learning difficulty or disability when at work.
  6. There were not enough opportunities for women to address their offending behaviour and progress through their sentence plans.
  7. Public protection arrangements had a number of weaknesses, and some risks were not managed well.

Return To New Hall

To see the full report go to the Ministry of Justice Website from the links below: