IMB – Independent Monitoring Board
UK

The Board welcomes improvements from the very restricted regime which was in place last year and improvements in access for prisoners to phone calls.

However, the Board is particularly concerned by:

• Inconsistencies in the application of rules and access to resources, which are unfair and destabilising because of the resentment they cause.
• The level of self-harm in the prison.
• The prevalence of illegal drugs which leads to violence, debt and health problems.
• The regime for vulnerable prisoners on the induction wing, which is unfairly restricted.
• The limited opportunities for meaningful work or education available in a local prison which mean that prisoners are not being positively prepared for release.
• The continued need for the prison to house prisoners with severe mental health issues, which is not an appropriate place for their treatment.

IMB Nottingham Chair, Keith Jamieson, said:

“The Board welcomes the increase in staff this year but staff turnover is high and the experience which has been lost in recent years is not easily replaced. This continues to detrimentally affect the lives of prisoners. Prisoners continue to experience frustrations in getting access to services and to essential items such as clean clothing. The Board is saddened by the deaths of seven men during the reporting year, five of them in the space of a month, and we recognise the impact that this has had on families, prisoners and staff.”

Read the report in full here.