HMP Swansea had made improvements in safety and in resettlement, but needed to provide more purposeful activity for prisoners, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, publishing the report of an unannounced short follow-up inspection of the Welsh local prison.

HMP Swansea’s last inspection in 2010 found that, on the whole, the prison was achieving reasonably good outcomes for prisoners in most areas. Inspectors in 2010 were concerned about arrangements for resettlement, particularly services to support the effective reintegration of offenders back into the community after their release. Short follow-up inspections focus on the progress the prison has made in implementing the recommendations made at the last inspection. Inspectors found that the prison had made sufficient progress on safety and resettlement but not enough progress in the areas of respect and purposeful activity.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

• staff-prisoner relationships were good;
• although the prison was old, it was reasonably clean and well maintained;
• the drug support unit was a positive initiative;
• health care provision was reasonable;
• education provision was reasonably good; and
• the quality of offender management work was reasonable and improvements were evident across most resettlement pathways, including work to develop support for prisoners’ families and children.

However, inspectors had some concerns:

• there had been three self-inflicted deaths since Swansea’s last inspection, but nearly two-thirds of staff still required refresher training in self-harm monitoring procedures;
• prescribing arrangements for substance misusers, at most risk during the early part of their stay at Swansea, were not sufficiently flexible and monitoring arrangements too limited;
• there were still not enough activity places, and not all the places and workshops available were used; and
• the needs of some minority groups were not understood or met.

Nick Hardwick said:

‘Swansea had made progress on safety although more work needed to be done to ensure prisoners at risk of suicide or self-harm received the support they required. Resettlement work had, with some caveats, improved. However, although not uncommon in a local prison, too many prisoners were unemployed and not purposefully engaged with activities. This was further compounded by restricted opportunities for time out of cell.’

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

‘I am pleased that the Chief Inspector has recognised the progress being made at HMP Swansea, with good staff-prisoner relationships and developments in resettlement and education.

‘The Governor and his staff are working to address areas for improvement identified in the report, particularly in the support of prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm.’

Notes to editors:

1. View the report. (155 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 17-19 December 2012.
4. HMP Swansea is a local prison and young offender institution, holding male prisoners aged 18 and over.
5. Please contact Jane Parsons at 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.