HMP and YOI Peterborough managed the women it held well overall, but needed to improve work and training opportunities, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons. Today he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the women’s side of the local prison.

HMP and YOI Peterborough, uniquely in England and Wales, holds both men and women on a single site. While this could have resulted in compromises that led to the needs of the smaller female population being subsumed by the larger male one, this inspection of the women’s side once again found that this was generally not the case. However, the 318 women held presented a wide and complex range of needs and this was a challenge to manage. About one in four women were unsentenced and about one in six were serving sentences of six months or less. The prison held 30 women serving indeterminate sentences for public protection or life sentences. The women ranged in age from 18 to 70. Half said they had children under the age of 18. Forty-four per cent had a problem with drugs when they arrived at the prison and 26% had a problem with alcohol. Over half the women reported an emotional wellbeing or mental health problem, significantly more than at similar prisons or at the time of the last inspection in 2011. Nearly a third of women arrived feeling depressed or suicidal. It was therefore an achievement that the prison was generally safe for most women held.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

• first night and early days arrangements were good and efforts were made to settle women into the prison routine;
• most women felt safe and the atmosphere was calm, which was greatly helped by the design of the small units;
• relationships between staff and prisoners were mainly respectful and strong;
• some good support was offered to women who were vulnerable;
• the general environment was very good;
• support for foreign nationals was better than many other prisons;
• time out of cell was good;
• resettlement services were excellent, with innovative support provided to women on arrival, through their sentence and, critically, on release;
• the resettlement support provided a through the gate model which could be emulated by other local prisons; and
• offender management arrangements in place for more serious offenders were good.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

• women often had long waits in court cells and on vans before disembarking at the prison, as the men were dealt with first;
• some women reported being victimised by other prisoners and staff;
• the proportion of female staff was too low;
• some elements of security were overly risk averse and the use of strip-searching was greater than inspectors have seen elsewhere;
• some very vulnerable women were segregated without the exceptional reasons to justify it;
• there was no specialist provision for those with a combination of complex needs and challenging behaviour;
• the purpose of the in-patient unit, where women with mental health problems were held, was unclear;
• health care provision was mixed; and
• educational achievements, particularly in English and maths, were not good enough.

Nick Hardwick said:

“Overall, Peterborough manages the women it holds well. The resettlement model at Peterborough is successful and could be copied by other prisons. The environment and relationships between staff and prisoners create a safe prison, although a higher proportion of female staff is needed. It is let down by the poor quantity and quality of activity it offers which, while improving, is still not good enough. Some security measures, such as the amount of strip-searching, are heavy handed and better provision is needed for the most complex and vulnerable women.”

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

“The Chief Inspector recognises the complexity of the needs of the women at Peterborough and I am pleased that the report recognises the tremendous efforts of prison staff to provide them with a safe and decent regime.

“The Director and his team can be proud of the progress they have made and the quality of service they are delivering. They will use the report’s recommendations to further improve the prison.”

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. Peterborough is a category B local prison for male and female prisoners and a young offender institution for female prisoners.
4. This unannounced inspection was carried out from 16-27 June 2014.
5. Please contact Barbara Buchanan on 020 3681 2772 if you would like more information or to request an interview.