HMP Dovegate in Staffordshire, with a significant number of offenders serving lengthy sentences, had high levels of violence, illicit drugs and use of force by staff, but there was some evidence that the leadership was beginning to address problems, according to a report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons published today.

Evidence from an unannounced inspection in May and June 2017 mirrored many findings from the previous inspection in 2015, said Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons.

In 2015, Dovegate had a relatively new director trying to get to grips with problems and “a challenging population of experienced and often violent offenders.”  At the time, Mr Clarke said, “we expressed some optimism about the potential for progress and our hope that improvement could be achieved. Unfortunately, that optimism was misplaced and it would seem the prison has experienced a number of difficult years since.”

In 2017, inspectors again found a newly appointed prison director who “seemed to be getting to grips with the problems the prison faced and improvements were beginning to gain momentum, although it remained early days.”

The key concern for inspectors was that the “prison was still not safe enough.” Levels of violence had dropped from a peak in 2016 but remained too high, despite some recent improvement over the last year. About a fifth of assaults were serious and a quarter of prisoners felt unsafe. Encouragingly, though, the prison seemed to be putting in place meaningful strategies to reduce this problem.

Inspectors also found:

• There had been one self-inflicted death since the last inspection and self-harm in general was high, though a small number of prisoners accounted for over a third of recent incidents.
• The views of prisoners and contraband finds indicated that the availability of illicit substances, including brewed alcohol and new psychoactive substances (NPS) such as Spice, was “considerable”. Substance misuse interventions to help reduce demand were, in contrast, excellent.
• Use of force was high and often required the use of full restraint. Supervision and arrangements to ensure meaningful accountability were weak.
• Use of segregation was similarly high and inspectors heard a number of concerns from prisoners about mistreatment in segregation.
• The substantial number of black and minority ethnic and Muslim prisoners reported far less favourably than white and non-Muslim prisoners about their treatment across a range of areas. There was little consultation with them to identify their concerns or needs.

By contrast, inspectors also found Dovegate to be a “generally respectful prison” with good living conditions for most prisoners. Most prisoners felt respected by staff. A significant number of prisoners were engaged in full-time work or training and had a reasonable amount of time out of cell, although inspectors still found over a quarter of prisoners locked up during the working day.

Peter Clarke said:

“Overall we remain positive about Dovegate’s future. The prison was well led and staff seemed to be growing in confidence. Meaningful work was being undertaken to address weaknesses and some early successes were evident. We left the prison with a number of recommendations which we trust will assist the process of improvement.”

Michael Spurr, Chief Executive of HM Prison and Probation Service, said:

“This Inspection highlights good work being done at Dovegate but raises a number of serious concerns, particularly around safety, which need to be addressed. Serco have developed a robust action plan to drive improvement, based on the Chief Inspector’s recommendations.  We will closely monitor progress over the coming months.”

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

1. A copy of the full report, published on 3 October 2017, can be found here.
2. HM Inspectorate of Prisons is an independent inspectorate, inspecting places of detention to report on conditions and treatment, and promote positive outcomes for those detained and the public.
3. HMP Dovegate, near Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, is a category B training prison for men, with an additional small local prison function.
4. Built in 2001, Dovegate has a self-contained therapeutic community (TC) and a separate training role for category B prisoners, although it also has a small local prison function for about 130 prisoners. Of 858 men in total held, over three-quarters are serving sentences well in excess of four years. Half are serving upwards of 10 years to life. This inspection in May and June 2017 related only to the training and local prison functions. The TC will be inspected separately.
5. This unannounced inspection took place between 22 May – 8 June 2017.
6.  Please contact John Steele at HM Inspectorate of Prisons press office on 020 3681 2775 or 07880 787452 if you would like more information.