HMP/YOI Isis had made some improvements, but needed to make more progress, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, publishing the report of an unannounced inspection of the south east London training prison.

HMP/YOI Isis is just over three years old. It is adjacent to Belmarsh and Thameside prisons and is operated by the public sector. It holds young men aged 18 to 30. This was its second inspection. Its first took place in 2011 when inspectors described a prison that had made some progress since opening but was dealing with significant challenges. This inspection found outcomes were not sufficiently good against any of HMI Prisons’ four healthy prison tests: safety, respect, purposeful activity or resettlement. In late 2013, staff shortages had led to a restricted emergency regime which, although intended to be temporary, was still in place at the time of the inspection. This had led to the curtailment of routines, more limited access to facilities and a negative impact on the life of the prison.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

• some very interesting and seemingly effective partnership work was taking place, particularly with the police, to try and confront the problems associated with gang affiliations;
• support for those at risk of self-harm was reasonably good;
• prisoners did not indicate that it was easy to obtain drugs, although there was emerging evidence to suggest new psychoactive substances were becoming more of a concern;
• use of force had reduced significantly;
• the environment was modern and generally clean and most cells were occupied by only one prisoner and adequately equipped;
• health care provision was good;
• if a prisoner was able to access learning, provision was good, and education and vocational training were well managed;
• some resettlement work was excellent, including work to find accommodation for prisoners on release; and
• three-quarters of prisoners of recently released prisoners had gone into sustainable training or employment.

Inspectors were concerned to find that:

• nearly a third of prisoners said they felt unsafe and many were concerned about victimisation;
• incidents of violence remained high and too many were serious, concerted or involved weapons;
• the restricted regime had facilitated a temporary strategy to keep gangs apart but it did not offer a long-term solution and limited opportunities for staff and prisoner to engage with each other;
• work to promote diversity was disappointing and a number of minority groups reported negative perceptions of their experiences;
• the restricted regime limited prisoners’ access to time out of cell and there were insufficient training and work places to fully occupy the population;
• offender management and sentence planning and work to support resettlement were not well coordinated;

Nick Hardwick said:

“This is a critical report but we recognise the challenge of delivering an effective prison at Isis is considerable. Few prisons hold a more challenging population than HMP/YOI Isis. The location of the prison, the volatile population it holds and continuing staff shortages mean the risks and challenges it faces are significant. Opening any new prison is complicated and although Isis has now been open for three years it is still in a settling phase. The prison is generally better than when we last inspected and we believe managers and staff care about improving the prison further. That said some key challenges – notably ensuring safety among the prisoner population, improving relationships between staff and prisoners, and being prepared to run a training regime for young people with confidence and creativity – need to be addressed with greater sophistication, assurance and determination.”

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

“Isis manages a difficult population of young adult men – many of whom are serving sentences for violence and have links with London gangs. The Governor and his staff have done some excellent work with the police to challenge gang affiliation and are committed to tackling and reducing violence.

“As the Chief Inspector makes clear, Isis is an improving prison. In particular, it is doing really good work to support resettlement. Three quarters of prisoners go into employment or training on release – this is crucial for successful rehabilitation.

“Recruitment is taking place to address the staff shortfalls and the prison is currently receiving detached duty support from other prisons to ensure it can deliver a consistent and safe regime.”

Notes to Editors:

1. Read the report.
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/YOI Isis is a young adult and category C training prison for young adult and adult males up to the age of 30.
4. This unannounced inspection was carried out from 17-28 February 2014.
5. Please contact Barbara Buchanan on 020 3681 2772 if you would like more information or to request an interview.