HMYOI Glen Parva - making progress

HMYOI Glen Parva had made commendable progress, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, publishing the report of an unannounced short follow-up inspection of the young offender institution in Leicestershire.

HMYOI Glen Parva holds young male prisoners aged 18 to 21. It was last inspected in 2009 when inspectors reported on a generally safe and respectful establishment that focused appropriately on the role of resettling young men back into the community but needed more purposeful activity. This short follow-up inspection reviewed progress in implementing recommendations made at the 2009 inspection and found the prison was making sufficient progress against all four healthy prison tests: safety, respect, purposeful activity and resettlement.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

  • management of vulnerable prisoners had improved, and the prison  took a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and violence;
  • suicide and self-harm were now generally well managed;
  • substance misuse was low and the introduction of the integrated drug treatment system (IDTS) had been positive;
  • relationships between staff and prisoners were generally reasonable and the work of personal officers was better than usual;
  • purposeful activity had greatly improved and there were now considerably more activity places; and
  • resettlement arrangements were generally good and all sentenced prisoners were allocated to an offender supervisor.

Inspectors were, however, concerned to find that:

  • many cells remained dirty and lacked furniture;
  • time out of cell was limited;
  • foreign national prisoners required further support from the UK Border Agency; and
  • there was little custody planning for prisoners on remand.

Nick Hardwick said:

‘Overall this was a positive inspection and we are pleased to report the prison’s progress. We have identified some key areas that require further work, in particular, the residential accommodation and the amount of time prisoners spend out of their cell.’

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

‘I am pleased that the Chief Inspector has recognised that the establishment has continued to progress and that in particular purposeful activity for prisoners has improved. The Governor and his staff will use the findings from the inspection report to drive further improvements.’

Notes to editors:

  1. View a copy of the report. (204 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 31 July–2 August 2012.
  4. HMYOI Glen Parva is a young offender institution holding sentenced, unsentenced and remanded young male prisoners aged 18-21.
  5. Please contact Jane Parsons at HMI Prisons on 020 7035 2123 or 07880 787452 if you would like more information or to request an interview with Nick Hardwick.