HMIP Reports, HMP Channings Wood

The prison was given an inspection in July 2022, 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:

HMP Channings Wood is a category C training and resettlement prison near Newton Abbot in Devon. Just over a third of the 662 prisoners held at the time of our inspection had been convicted of an offence of a sexual nature.

The clearer sense of purpose for the prison and the evidence of progress we found during this visit was encouraging. Assessed as being not sufficiently good against all four of our healthy prison tests at recent inspections, we judged that outcomes had improved and were now reasonably good for safety, respect and rehabilitation and release planning.

Although our judgement of purposeful activity remained not sufficiently good, the governor had an impressive and ambitious vision for the prison, coupled with a credible pandemic recovery plan. His passion and strong commitment to deliver on the prison’s training and resettlement purpose was underpinned by a commendable personal pledge to equip properly every prisoner leaving Channings Wood for a successful release.

Beneath this rehabilitative ethos, however, we found some serious shortcomings that leaders needed to address urgently. Despite the overall improvements in both safety and decency, we still found worrying indications of inconsistency in the care and conditions for some prisoners, which had been a recurring theme at previous inspections. We were concerned that the well-being for some prisoners was not sufficiently safeguarded, and heard allegations of violence, bullying, and intimidation towards newly arrived vulnerable prisoners who had been placed in dirty, ill-equipped cells on a unit shared with longer term prisoners. In contrast, the majority of other new prisoners were held in a dedicated well-managed induction unit, that had good, clean-living conditions and cells with showers.

We were also concerned that, despite raising this at our last inspection, every cell in the segregation unit was still fitted with CCTV that could be viewed by staff from the unit office, potentially breaching prisoners’ rights to privacy. In fact, the prison’s CCTV as a whole was overdue an upgrade, with many blind spots and cameras that did not work.

Furthermore, failings in some basic services were creating much frustration among prisoners. The application system, for example, was unreliable, and there were delays in receiving mail, property and parcels. The absence of a functioning key worker scheme exacerbated the problems that prisoners told us they faced in getting things done. There was a plan to deliver more key work, but this depended on increasing the available number of prison officers, even though the allotted number had been recruited.

Not enough attention had been paid to sentence progression: there was little support and provision for lifers and a lack of accredited offending behaviour programmes for those who presented a high risk and delays in transfers meant that some were released without having had their needs addressed.

Despite the seriousness of the deficiencies, our findings on the whole were more positive at this inspection: The ingress of illicit drugs that had caused us concern in 2018 had reduced, violence had declined, and more prisoners felt safe than previously. We observed officers to be generally caring and supportive and contact between prisoners and their offender managers was now much better.

Leaders had also made some progress towards improving living conditions in the residential areas, although cells and showers remained poor and unsuitable on some units. Around 70 prisoners shared cells designed for one, where conditions were very cramped, and toilets inadequately screened.

More positively, in-cell telephony had finally been switched on during our inspection, and we were told of plans to further improve and extend facilities as part of an expansion project that would increase the prison’s capacity by 366 prisoners. Whilst the ambition for the prison was encouraging, it remains critical that leaders still pay attention to the fundamentals and safeguard the care and conditions for all their prisoners.

Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
September 2022

 

The inspectors also gave a list of the main concerns

 

What needs to improve at HMP Channings Wood

During this inspection we identified 14 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 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. Newly arrived vulnerable prisoners did not have safe or decent conditions. Cells were not always clean or adequately equipped, and they were exposed to the risk of violence, bullying and intimidation from other prisoners.
  2. Key work was not sufficient and did not support sentence progression.
  3. The standard of accommodation on some living blocks was poor. Many cells and showers needed refurbishment, and conditions where two prisoners shared a cell designed for one were unacceptable.
  4. The application system was not functioning effectively. This contributed to high levels of frustration among prisoners.
  5. Leaders did not make sure that there were sufficient places in education, skills and work for all prisoners. As a result, too many prisoners waited a long time to be allocated to a programme that met their needs and not enough prisoners were participating in education, skills and work to be sufficiently well prepared for their release.
  6. Very few offending behaviour programmes were available for prisoners assessed as presenting a high risk of serious harm. This limited progression, which was especially acute for high-risk life sentence prisoners.

Key concerns

  1. There was CCTV in cells in the segregation unit, which could be viewed from the unit office, potentially breaching prisoners’ privacy.
  2. There was a lack of functioning CCTV across the prison. Blind spots meant prisoners feared violent incidents would not be detected.
  3. Leaders did not make sure that there was sufficient staff to run the education, skills and work programme for prisoners effectively. This meant prisoners waited too long to join programmes. Those studying functional skills stayed on programmes beyond their planned end date.
  4. Too few prisoners received sufficient support in education, skills, and work to aid their resettlement. Leaders had not fully reinstated prisoners’ use of release on temporary licence for either work or learning.
  5. Tutors and instructors did not raise adequately prisoners’ awareness of issues such as equality and diversity or values of tolerance and respect. This meant prisoners did not develop their knowledge and understanding of these topics.
  6. The social visits area was unwelcoming and in poor repair.
  7. Video calls were not accessible enough for prisoners or their families.
  8. Prisoners waited far too long for progressive transfers

Return to Channings Wood

To read the full reports, go to the Ministry of Justice site or follow the links below:

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