HMP Hull was a safer prison and was working to reduce reoffending, but other concerns remained, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, publishing the report of an unannounced short follow-up inspection of the local jail.

HMP Hull is a Victorian local prison, holding almost 1,000 men at the time of the inspection. It has had a chequered history, but its last inspection in 2008 was positive and found that the prison was achieving reasonably good outcomes for prisoners in all four healthy prison tests: safety, respect, purposeful activity and resettlement. This inspection found the prison had made progress in three areas, but progress under the respect heading had been insufficient. The environment was poor, the prison remained overcrowded and personal officer work was weak.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

• the prison had made good progress in keeping prisoners safe, with improved first night procedures and well-informed strategies to prevent violence;
• suicide prevention procedures had improved and there was a good listeners scheme;
• health care had improved, though waiting times and facilities were poor, while drug and alcohol treatment services were adequate;
• good progress had been made in developing teaching and learning and time out of cell was reasonable; and
• the prison had addressed previous concerns about inadequately resourced and coordinated offender management, and had worked on improving resettlement.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

• the prison remained overcrowded, cells were extremely small and many designed for one were shared;
• in-cell toilets were inadequately screened and prisoners had to eat their meals in their cells;
• prisoners were routinely addressed by their surnames only; and
• support for foreign national prisoners was inadequate, with other prisoners routinely used to interpret for very confidential and sensitive issues.

Nick Hardwick said:

‘HMP Hull had responded positively to the findings of our last inspection but some long-standing concerns remain. Good work had been done to reassure prisoners about their safety and to reduce the risk they reoffend on release. Nevertheless, the physical state of the prison, overcrowding and some aspects of staff-prisoner relationships threaten to undermine the progress made in other areas. We hope that when we return, much greater progress will also have been made in these areas.’

Michael Spurr, Chief Executive Officer of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), said:

‘Solid progress is being made at Hull especially around safety, violence reduction, education and resettlement. I am confident that the Governor and staff will continue to build on these improvements and address the issues raised in the report.

‘The prison presents a challenging physical environment, but staff work extremely hard to provide as extensive a regime as possible.’

Notes to Editors:

1. Read a copy of the report. (197 kB)
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. This unannounced short follow-up inspection was carried out from 14-17 February 2012. Short follow-up inspections focus on recommendations made at the last full inspection and so do not provide an assessment of the prison as a whole.
4. HMP Hull is a large city local prison holding category B male adults and young adults.
5. Please contact Jane Parsons in HMI Prisons Press Office on 0207 035 2123 or 07880 787452 if you would like more information or to request an interview with Nick Hardwick.