HMIP Inspection of The Mount

The prison was last visited by HMIP in March 2022. The full reports can be read at the Ministry of Justice web site, just follow the links below. In their last report the inspectors said:

“At our last inspection in 2018 of The Mount, a category C prison near Hemel Hempstead, we found a prison that was deteriorating to the extent that in every healthy prison test the establishment was judged poor or not sufficiently good. The prison held about 1,000 adult men at the time of the visit, with more than two-fifths assessed as either high or very high risk of harm to others. At this inspection, we found an improvement in the test of safety, which was now reasonably good, and a slight improvement in rehabilitation and release planning, but no improvement in outcomes for respect and purposeful activity. The senior leadership team had an appropriate vision that included improving safety, the maintenance of decent standards and developing progression opportunities for the men held there, but there remained some basic and persistent barriers to success.

Ofsted, our partners who joined us at this inspection, judged the provision of education, work and skills to be inadequate, their lowest judgement. The prison did not have a comprehensive overview or evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of education provision and had not provided enough purposeful activity places for the population. Those prisoners who did have a place were not always fully or usefully occupied when they attended. Such failings were completely undermining The Mount’s stated purpose as a training establishment. Despite some improvements in core functioning, rehabilitation and resettlement planning was not sufficiently good overall and was the main area of complaint to us by prisoners during our inspection. We found an insufficient focus on and opportunities for sentence progression, which is crucial to men in a category C training prison. There were few interventions, besides accredited offending behaviour programmes, to help prisoners reduce their risk and make progress. Transfers to open prisons often took far too long.

Officer shortages had been a problem well before the COVID-19 pandemic and at this inspection, 40% of staff could not be deployed to operational duties. As such, the regime remained severely restricted, and time out of cell was poor, with many men locked up for 22 hours a day. Prisoners were very frustrated by limited access to key areas of support, such as the library and the gym, social visits, and the ongoing suspension of corporate worship. The staff shortages caused additional pressure on those who were left to deliver the day-to-day regime, and many felt they did not have enough time to support prisoners.

Leaders had taken proactive steps to improve safety, and these were beginning to take effect. Most prisoners now said they felt safe, a sentiment backed up by the data – the rate of assaults was lower than in 2018 and fewer were serious. The site had been divided into two, which allowed for much better supervision of prisoner movements around the campus, and leaders had further improved supervision with the introduction of escorted moves which had, we were told, contributed to improved safety outcomes. However, there were also some disadvantages to this arrangement, including difficulties for prisoners on one site accessing activities on the other. Steps to disrupt the supply of drugs were also having a positive impact and far fewer men said they were easy to get hold of, but drug testing was yet to restart and less than half of the requested cell searches were completed; both major gaps. Support for those at risk of self[1]harm was limited and many were left locked in cell for most of the day which was not conducive to positive emotional wellbeing.

The prison continued to deal with some significant weaknesses including staff shortages, but our findings showed some signs of encouragement around safety. The prison had benefitted from some investment by HMPPS to make it clean and decent, and prisoners were more positive about many aspects. It was disappointing that some of the cells and communal areas, especially on the older site, were tired and in need of refurbishment if outcomes were to improve further. Clearly, addressing the weaknesses in purposeful activity and rehabilitation and release planning is a critical priority for a training prison – leaving men locked in a cell for most of the day surely does not lead to better citizens on release.

Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
April 2022

 Return to The Mount 

To read the full reports follow the links below