HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke has questioned whether the Prison Service’s ‘special measures’ will be sufficient to address serious problems at HMP Bedford after inspectors found very high violence and inexperienced staff struggling to maintain control.

Mr Clarke urged the Secretary of State for Justice, David Gauke, to intervene in Bedford prison after a visit in which inspectors feared that “there could all too easily be a complete breakdown in order and discipline.”

Bedford, a small local prison with a high turnover of prisoners staying for short periods, suffered a major outbreak of violence in November 2016. A large number of prisoners were subsequently removed but by May 2018 HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) concluded that Bedford was making insufficient progress against an internal Performance Improvement Plan. The prison was placed in special measures by HMPPS, generating a number of action plans.

After the inspection at Bedford, which finished on 6 September, the Chief Inspector has invoked the Urgent Notification (UN) Protocol, which enables him to bring significant problems in a jail publicly to the attention of the Justice Secretary, who must respond in 28 days. In a letter to Mr Gauke, published today, along with the feedback given to the governor at the end of the inspection, Mr Clarke wrote: “The clear view of the Inspectorate is that immediate and decisive intervention is needed at HMP Bedford to avert further decline and an even more dangerous lack of control than is currently the case.”

The UN letter describes a “continual and unchecked decline in standards” in Bedford over the last nine years, with evidence from the inspection showing:

• Very high violence. The rate of assaults had risen significantly since the last inspection (in 2016) and Bedford was second only to HMP Birmingham. Assaults on staff were now at the highest rate in the country.
• A lack of control. Inspectors saw prisoners refusing to comply with directions from staff, without sanction or effective challenge. Some 77% of available officers had less than one year’s service and “there was a corresponding lack of experience at all levels.”
• Drugs. One prisoner in five said they had acquired a drug habit since entering the jail, and the smell of cannabis and other drugs being smoked pervaded some of the wings.
• Poor living conditions. Bedford was overcrowded. There was a huge backlog of general repairs. Towels and sheets were only being changed every four weeks and despite efforts to deal with the problem the prison was still infested with rats and cockroaches.
• Little purposeful activity. The prison lacked a culture of work or learning. Even though there were sufficient activity places for every prisoner, at least on a part-time basis, few chose to attend.

Mr Clarke wrote to Mr Gauke:

“It is of great concern that for nine years the prison has been on a path of seemingly inexorable decline. Repeated inspection findings clearly show that this has been the case. For much of that time there was a marked inconsistency in the leadership of the prison, with frequent changes of governor. The present governor has now been in post for over a year, and that is welcome. The question for me is whether she and her team, clearly determined as they are to improve the prison, have the capability and capacity to do so… My judgement is that placing the prison in ‘special measures’ does not, in itself, give assurance that the serious issues… will be adequately addressed.”

– Ends –

Notes to editors

1. Mr Clarke’s Urgent Notification letter to Mr Gauke, and accompanying notes, can be found here.
2. On 30 November 2017, Mr Clarke and David Lidington, then Justice Secretary, signed the Urgent Notification protocol – an extension of the existing working protocol between HMI Prisons and the Ministry of Justice. Mr Clarke said at the time: “The Secretary of State has accepted that he and his successors will be held publicly accountable for delivering an urgent, robust and effective response when HMI Prisons assesses that treatment or conditions in a jail raise such significant concerns that urgent action is required. The protocol requires the Secretary of State to respond to an urgent notification letter from HM Chief Inspector of Prisons within 28 days. The Chief Inspector’s notification and the Secretary of State’s response will both be published.
3. The most recent two-week inspection of HMP Bedford began on 28 August 2018 and ended on 6 September. The inspection was unannounced.
4. The debriefing notes accompanying the Urgent Notification letter to the Secretary of State are drawn from the initial HMI Prisons findings shared with the governor of HMP Bedford. As is the case with all HMI Prisons inspections, these early findings are indicative and may be changed at the discretion of the Chief Inspector, after due consideration or following the emergence of new evidence (all HMI Prisons evidence and conclusions are subject to a rigorous fact-checking process). However, it was the view of the Chief Inspector that the initial findings at HMP Bedford were clear and concerning enough to warrant his decision to invoke the Urgent Notification Protocol.
5. Bedford is the fourth prison to trigger an Urgent Notification (UN) since the Protocol came into force on 30 November 2017. More than 30 jails have been inspected in that period. The other UNs were at Nottingham, Exeter and Birmingham.
6. A full report on HMP Bedford will be published in due course, around 18 weeks after the end of the inspection.
7. Please contact John Steele at HM Inspectorate of Prisons press office on 020 3334 0357 or 07880 787452, or at john.steele@justice.gov.uk if you would like more information.