HMP Rye Hill had some real strengths, but needed to improve health care for prisoners, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons. Today he published the report of an unannounced inspection of the training prison in Northamptonshire.

HMP Rye Hill is a category B training prison which, at the time of its inspection, held just over 600 men, all of whom, after a change of role in summer 2014, were convicted sex offenders. The population was a complex mix of serious offenders and some frail older men who needed significant levels of care. In most areas the prison was performing very well. It had strong leadership and different parts of the prison worked effectively together.

Inspectors were pleased to find that:

• the prison was safe, with sound early days arrangements, low levels of violence, and bullying generally well managed;
• men with complex needs and those at risk of suicide and self-harm were generally well cared for, although levels of self-harm were high;
• substance misuse services were reasonably good;
• the external environment was very good and cells were in good condition;
• most staff-prisoner relationships were good, but there were a small number of exceptions;
• most prisoners had a reasonable amount of time out of their cells and the leadership of learning and skills was good;
• resettlement was a strength and offender management processes were among the best inspectors have seen; and
• all prisoners had good access to their offender supervisors, public protection arrangements were sound and an appropriate range of programmes was offered to address prisoners’ attitudes and behaviours.

However, inspectors were concerned to find that:

• the prison was not sufficiently alert to the risk of prisoner-on-prisoner sexual grooming;
• prisoners from black and minority ethnic backgrounds and Muslim prisoners reported more negatively than the population as a whole and although many of these concerns were not well founded, the prison needed to do more to engage with these prisoners; and
• health care services had not sufficiently adapted to meet the needs of the new population, and there were staff shortages and long waiting times for most clinics.

Nick Hardwick said:

“This was a positive inspection and HMP Rye Hill has some real strengths. Its purposeful activities, and offender management, both vital for this population, are better than we normally see and there is much that other prisons can learn from this. Nevertheless, in some other areas, particularly health care, the prison was not meeting the needs of its population and these areas now needed to be brought up to the same standards as the rest of the prison.”

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

“This is a positive report which shows that Rye Hill is a decent and safe prison, where staff are working effectively to rehabilitate offenders and protect the public.

“The prison will build on the recommendations in this report, including working closely with partners to improve offender healthcare and better meet the complex needs of its population, which includes a significant number of older prisoners.”

 

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 Rye Hill is a category B training prison for adult male prisoners serving four years or more for sexual offences. It is run by G4S.
4. This unannounced inspection was carried out from 3-14 August 2015.
5. Please contact Jane Parsons at HMI Prisons press office on 020 3681 2775 or 07880 787452 if you would like more information or to request an interview.