HMP Wakefield had made progress since its last inspection, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons. Today he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the high security prison in West Yorkshire.

HMP Wakefield is one of eight high security prisons in England and holds 750 men, many of whom are serious sex offenders. HMP Wakefield is a high risk institution where the need to ensure the protection of the public, the need to provide safe, decent and humane treatment for men serving extremely long sentences and the need to work with men to help them address their offending behaviour have to be balanced. This inspection found that Wakefield had made progress in developing and embedding a constructive and decent staff culture and had started to make progress in working constructively with men, most of whom had committed the most serious of offences.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

• the prison felt calm and ordered and most prisoners said they felt safe, although fewer than at the last inspection, which may have been due to a more challenging population profile;
• work to support those at risk of self-harm was generally well managed and some good care was provided to men who were vulnerable;
• processes to support prisoners on arrival were reasonably good and efforts were made to help prisoners settle down for what were often very long stays at the prison;
• security arrangements were sophisticated and provided an appropriate level of reassurance to the public;
• relationships between staff and prisoners were excellent;
• the environment was well maintained for its age;
• appropriate work was being carried out to reduce the risk men posed to others and to allow men the possibility or potential for progressing through their sentence; and
• a useful range of offending behaviour programmes were offered, and encouraging progress was being made in work to understand some of the underlying reasons why men minimise their responsibility for or deny their offences.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

• levels of violence were not high, but had increased, particularly assaults against staff;
• F wing, the segregation and CSC unit, remained a poor environment and plans to carry out a refurbishment were welcome;
• structures to provide care and progression planning for men held in segregation were very weak; and
• too many men were locked in cells during the working day, which reflected the shortage of activity places available, although efforts were being made to address this.

Nick Hardwick said:

“HMP Wakefield has made progress in some key areas since our last inspection. A renewed focus on some of the emerging challenges around safety and the population mix, as well as developing more opportunities to keep prisoners purposefully occupied, are priorities we have identified. But considering the complexity, risk and challenges of this population, the prison is providing reasonable outcomes for prisoners.”

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

“I am pleased that the Chief Inspector has recognised the good work being done at Wakefield.

“Staff work with a challenging, long sentenced and high risk population and deserve credit for the quality of the relationships they have developed and creating a calm and ordered environment where risk and offending behaviour can be effectively addressed.

“The Governor will use the recommendations in the report to further build on the progress they have made.”

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. This unannounced inspection was carried out from 30 June – 11 July 2014.
4. HMP Wakefield is a high security prison for category A and B male prisoners, almost exclusively holding those with a determinate sentence of over 10 years, lifers and prisoners with an indeterminate sentence for public protection.
5. The prison also contains a small close supervision centre (CSC) unit, part of a nationally managed system of units that hold some of the most violent men in the prison system. The CSC facility was not part of this inspection but will be considered as part of a thematic inspection of these units due to take place in early 2015.
6. Please contact Jane Parsons at HMI Prisons on 020 3681 2775 or 07880 787452 if you would like more information or to request an interview.