The prison was inspected last during February/March 2022, the full report can be read at the Ministry of Justice web site, just follow the links below. In their report the inspectors said
“HMP Elmley is a Category B reception and category C training prison located on the Isle of Sheppey. The category C prisoners, which made up 45% of the population, were housed on a separate wing.
The relationships between staff and prisoners were better than we usually see in this sort of prison and during the inspection we were impressed by the way most officers interacted with the men. In spite of ongoing COVID-19 cases in prisoners arriving at the jail, the prison had worked hard to keep the regime going and those in work were out of their cells for more than seven hours a day. Even unemployed prisoners could expect to be unlocked for at least five hours. It was therefore disappointing that the provision of education was so poor, with Ofsted inspectors awarding their lowest grade in two areas and their second lowest in two more, with the quality of teaching and the lack of a proper needs assessment being particularly disappointing.
The governor, who was well-liked by both staff and prisoners, had only been in post since August 2021, but she had made some progress in building a more rehabilitative culture as the risk from COVID-19 began to recede.
Levels of violence were slightly below the average for similar prisons, although prisoners’ perception of their own safety had not improved since our last inspection. In spite of this, the use of force had gone up significantly and the leaders had not done enough to understand the reasons for this rise. The processes for assessing, addressing and monitoring the behaviour of the more serious perpetrators of violence was not yet effective enough. We were concerned that at Elmley, a much larger number of incidents than we usually see were routinely being classed as “miscellaneous” rather than being put in a more suitable category. We also found that the use of data in measuring outcomes between different groups was not sophisticated enough to understand and act where these were disproportionate.
We were disappointed to hear that the excellent early days mental health screening pilot was coming to an end. This had aimed to identify those prisoners whose mental health was at risk and was valued by both prisoners and staff. We were assured that the new service model would incorporate the same level of service and support. In health care more generally, there were not enough staff members to be able to provide a stable, high-quality service, leading to delays and a lack of consistency.
The prison received more complaints than any other local prison, to which its responses were often neither timely nor helpful. This is partly because the system for making applications was not working, leading to greater prisoner frustration.
We were very pleased to see that the prison was offering visits every day of the week. This was much better than we often see in other jails, where COVID-19 restrictions or staffing shortages tend to result in provision being curtailed.
Staffing levels at the prison have deteriorated in recent months, but they are not yet at a critical level. The way staff are deployed is not always as creative as it could be. Consequently, key work has largely been lost and prisoner offender managers (POM) in the offender management unit are often cross deployed, directly affecting prisoner progression.
There is much to build on at Elmley with many good staff members and a leadership team that has grown in confidence. The prison will need to continue to be led effectively and creatively if it is to build on the findings of this inspection.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
April 2022
To read the full reports from the inspectors, follow the links below
- Inspection report (2 MB), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Elmley by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (28 February – 1 March and 7-11 March 2022)
- HMP Elmley (634.02 kB), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Elmley (23-24 April, 29 April – 3 May 2019)
- HMP Elmley (PDF, 1.90 MB), Report on an announced inspection of HMP Elmley (19-20 October, 16-20 November 2015)
- HMP Elmley, Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Elmley (2 – 13 July 2014)
- HMP Elmley, Announced inspection of HMP Elmley (19 – 23 March 2012)
- HMP/YOI Elmley, Unannounced short follow-up inspection of HMP/YOI Elmley (28-30 April 2009)
- HMP/YOI Elmley, Announced inspection of HMP/YOI Elmley (11-15 December 2006)