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HMP/YOI EAST SUTTON PARK
ANNUAL REPORT OF
THE INDEPENDENT MONITORING BOARD
1ST NOVEMBER 2013 TO 31ST OCTOBER 2014
Section 1
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STATUTORY ROLE OF THE IMB
The Prison Act 1952 and the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 require every prison and IRC to be monitored by an Independent Board appointed by the Secretary of State from members of the community in which the prison or centre is situated.
The Board is specifically charged to:
(1) satisfy itself as to the humane and just treatment of those held in custody within its prison and the range and adequacy of the programmes preparing them for release.
(2) inform promptly the Secretary of State, or any official to whom he has delegated authority as it judges appropriate, any concern it has.
(3) report annually to the Secretary of State on how well the prison has met the standards and requirements placed on it and what impact these have on those in its custody.
(4) to enable the Board to carry out these duties effectively its members have,and have had, right of access to every prisoner and every part of the prison and also to the prison’s records.
Section 2
Section / CONTENT / PAGE NO1 / Statutory role of the IMB / 2
2 / Contents / 3
3 / Description of the prison / 4
4 / Executive summary / 5
5 / Areas that must be reported on / 8
6 / Other areas on which the board has issues to report / 11
7 / Work of the IMB / 12
Conclusion / 14
Section 3
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRISON
3.1 HMP/YOI East Sutton Park (ESP) is an open prison with a CNA (Certified Normal Accommodation) of 92 women and 8 young offenders. The establishment is located six miles from Maidstone, the County Town of Kent and the main house is a Grade 11 listed Jacobean mansion, set in 84 acres of grounds. In 1946 the first and only open female borstal was established at East Sutton Park which is the only female open prison in the south of England. The prison is amalgamated with HMP Blantyre House as the Weald of Kent Resettlement Estate.
Accommodation is in shared rooms of between 2 and 6 women. Priority for ground floor double rooms is given to women going out to paid work and to disabled prisoners.
Women are encouraged to prepare for release and return to the community by gaining qualifications, skills and confidence through work and study.
Links with the local community are good and 40 women are currently in voluntary or paid work, 4 more are in training before commencing jobs and 2 are at college. (For this period last year 25 women were in paid or voluntary work.) Some of the women work in London which is an hour’s train journey from the nearest station, 5 miles from the prison.
Women eligible to go out to paid work are required to save a percentage of their earnings for when they are released. They are also liable for a 40% contribution to a victim fund after £20 has been earned but less income tax and any eligible deductions such as national insurance and court ordered payments.
ESP is a working prison with a farm, extensive gardens and a profitable farm shop that is open to the public twice a week and also goes out to local farmers markets.
Education supplier is Manchester College and Healthcare provider (not 24 hour) is Oxleas. Samaritans make regular visits to ESP to train the current team of Listeners
PSO 6300 permits women who are primary carers to have child care resettlement leave (CCR) This gives women the opportunity to spend quality time at home with their children who are under the age of 16, every eight weeks.
3.2 Statistical profile:
Over the reporting period there were:
140 new receptions (previous year 146)
126 releases 2 of these were deported (127 previous year)
7 x Foreign National new receptions
2 x deported and 10 x transferred back to closed because of immigration issues.
3.3 The Closure of East Sutton Park
This was announced a year ago and had been expected to take 12 months but no further information has been received regarding the decision.
Section 4
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
4.1 Closure
The delay in reaching a conclusion about closure of the prison leaves staff, as well as longer term residents, in a difficult position for planning their futures. It has been proposed that resettlement units will be attached to closed establishments, with the objective of housing women nearer to their homes but this is not necessarily going to be the case. The closure of ESP and Askham Grange would mean that there will be no UK female open establishments.
The Board is concerned that the new units will not be as effective as the present female open estate in preparing women for release. ESP’s commitment to the welfare and resettlement of the individual prisoner has been instrumental in helping many women to turn their lives around and this in turn will have influenced the future of their children. The closure of East Sutton Park would mean the loss of a prison that can be seen to be successful in reducing reoffending.
At closure prisoners will be transferred to one of the new resettlement units and ESP staff will be offered employment at other establishments.
ESP IMB is taking account of reports from prisons that have already closed and will use that knowledge to encourage best practice and to monitor that the women will not be disadvantaged by subsequent transfers.
4.2 Short Sentences
The Board has concerns, which are shared by the Prison, about the increasing number of women arriving with very short sentences left to serve. Waiting lists have made it difficult for many to attend courses related to the prevention of reoffending. Sometimes this has meant other prisoners being held back from a place on such courses.
4.3 Bronzefield communications
Mail, monies and education certificates have been unacceptably slow in arriving from Bronzefield and in some cases lost. Emails to the prison regarding these and other issues have not been answered in spite of additional attempts to contact by telephone.
Concerns previously reported & those requiring a response from the minister.
4.4 The Chief Inspector of Prisons commented favourably on the Vision team which has continued to provide realistic and practical help for the women in finding accommodation, paid and voluntary work and dealing with personal issues such as debt. The success of the project is largely due to the professionalism, skills and life experience of its team members who because of their own situations are well placed to address the needs of their peers.
Q Are there plans to roll this project out to other prisons?
4.5 Only secretariat provided training for IMBs is approved and expenses for any other is not reimbursed.
Q Can this policy be amended to cover reasonable costs for members attending other training that is deemed to be of particular benefit to the IMB role?
4.6 We continue to be concerned that so many women who do not pose a threat to society, are given a custodial sentence. In many cases a community sentence would be more appropriate and effective as it could address the offence but not risk the woman losing her children and her accommodation. By enabling a family to stay together the woman is less likely to re-offend and her children will have a greater chance of staying crime free in the future.
Q Will the Minister again consider the policy of sending non violent women to prison?
(Corston Report paras 5.17 to 5.20).
4.7The Board understands that there is no national policy regarding toilet stops during transport of women prisoners. This observation arose when a young woman arrived at ESP in a very distressed condition having been forced to urinate in a polythene bag during a journey from HMP Peterborough. There were male prisoners on the vehicle who were offered a comfort stop at one of the receiving establishments that refused to accommodate the woman.
Q Can a national policy be drawn up to address the issue of toilet facilities for women prisoners being transported?
4.8As previously reported, the National Facilities List does not address the needs of women in open conditions.
Q Can this be reviewed?
SUMMARY OF REPORT
- Closure of East Sutton Park
- Vision peer advice project.
- IMB trainingexpenses
- Community sentences for women who pose no threat to the public
- Toilet stops for women prisoners
- Facilities List unsuitable
Section 5
AREAS THAT MUST BE REPORTED ON
5.1 Equality and Inclusion
It is pleasing to note that following the Board’s previous report, the IMB has more often been notified when an adjudication is to take place. Now that IEP has taken a higher profile it is to be hoped that the IMB will be involved in any hearings relating to the IEP process. The Governor has been asked to notify the IMB of any hearings.
The prison has introduced the new ROTL procedures but regrettably those instructions have posed particular difficulties for this prison and for the prisoners. It is quite clear that the instructions are aimed at the closed male estate and no account is taken of a women’s open prison such as ESP. Consequently limitations have been imposed on the prisoners as to when they will be permitted ROTL and unnecessary burdens have been placed on an already over stretched prison staff in that more escorts are required for women who have not reached their Facilities Licence Eligibility date. It would be helpful if the Minister could consider the status of all the prisoners he is responsible for.
An incident occurred when three foreign national prisoners were returned to closed conditions. The IMB were critical that the prisoners concerned were not allowed to collect any belongings or even a change of underwear. The board is aware of potential security risks should prior notice have been given about the transfer but surely the matter could have been more appropriately dealt with. This matter was taken up with the DDC.
5.2 Equality Report
The prison is still struggling to maintain staff and prisoner representation at monthly Equality meetings which have been poorly attended over the reporting period. It is appreciated that low staff levels have had an impact but the Board recommends that efforts should be made to improve matters.
Older prisoners have had support from a designated officer.
5.3 Education and Learning Skills
The educational needs of the women continue to be addressed through partnership working between Education Department and Offender Management Unit. Individual learning plans are set up and monitored through Risk Boards.
The Education Department continues to offer a range of basic and employment related courses. This year has seen the introduction of a new mentoring course, that supports the development of a range of life skills and this has proved popular with the women.
National Vocational Qualifications have been offered through other departments at ESP but we remain concerned that staff shortages have impacted on the delivery of NVQs in Kitchens and the Farm.
5.4 Library
The facility was open 8am to 8pm and was well used as were Story Book Mums and reading club projects. Residents researched and presented an Ann Frank exhibition and a local holocaust survivor came into the prison to share her experiences.
In spite of the fact that books not currently in the library can be ordered from Local Authority facilities, the recent ruling on not bringing or sending books into the prison had affected those women who wanted specific titles for study and also for leisure reading.
5.5 Healthcare
Psychological therapy treatment available to the women has improved significantly over the past year, at least partly as a result of IMB pressure. However psychological therapy needs must be closely monitored and taken into account in future healthcare commissioning.
There had been some concern over possible over-prescription and potential problems. This issue I was being looked at by the Healthcare Quality Board.
It should be made clear in ESP Healthcare Policy that emergency dental treatment outside the prison is available to all women, regardless of ROTL status or length of time at ESP.
The Board is concerned that the Healthcare Needs Assessment was only applied to some residents and therefore has not been carried out in a way that would reflect the needs of the whole prison population at ESP.
Oxleas healthcare complaints procedure and its application at ESP is unclear. Despite repeated requests from the IMB, complaint forms are not on display in Healthcare but during induction, staff in that department advise prisoners that they will help if needed.
Oxleas’ contract with the prison has not been available to the Board. Without clear description of what should be provided, the IMB is unable to assess whether the women have been offered the care that has been agreed and funded. This has been of serious concern.
5.6 Effects of impending closure
The board has observed that the proposed closure of ESP is causing some stress, particularly to lifers. Civilian and prison staff have since the original announcement, been anxious about their futures. They were already under huge pressures of extra workloads due to budget cuts.
5.7 Farms and Gardens
Working on the farm with the animals and in the gardens continues to be of therapeutic benefit to the women in prison. The impending closure of ESP and the resultant decrease in staffing levels has meant that no one has been available to deliver courses such as NVQ in retail.
5.8 Resettlement
The Board has concerns, which are shared by the prison, that with the increasing number of women arriving with very short sentences still to serve it is proving difficult to run courses relating to the prevention of reoffending. Sometimes this has meant other prisoners being held back from a place on such courses.
5.9 Families and children
Staff have organised a series of family days throughout the year. These have been very much enjoyed by all and have been invaluable in strengthening family ties. It has been reassuring for the children to see where their mothers are living as this helps to allay fears and misconceptions about prisons, fuelled by media interpretation of life in custody.
Low staffing levels meant that for a short period of time, visits were restricted although the statutory hours permitted were achieved.
Prisoners who do not have children feel that they should also be given the opportunity to strengthen their family relationships by inviting siblings/partners to a special ‘family day’
5.60 Safer Custody
With a population of around 100, the women are generally mindful of each others’ welfare and are swift to address concerns for the other women and therefore, self harm figures are low.
5.61 Separation and Care
Not applicable
Section 6
OTHER AREAS OF NOTE
6.1 Systems delivered by officers
Staff and officers at ESP have continued to be supportive of the women. Women going to interviews and to work are able to borrow clothes that are smart and appropriate for the occasion and this serves to give the women the self confidence that is vital if they are to succeed.
6.2 Personal Officer Scheme
Designated officers are responsible for typically eight women and the scheme has continued to be highly effective in helping the women to prepare for release. The success of the programme has been due to the dedication of each officer in working with every woman on a one to one basis to build the confidence that will help her to make a fresh start and to turn her life around.
Section 7
THE WORK OF THE INDEPENDENT MONITORING BOARD
Board StatisticsRecommended complement of Board Members / 9
Number of Board members at the start of the reporting period / 9
Number of Board members at the end of the reporting period / 9
Number of new members joining within the reporting period / 0
Number of members leaving within the reporting period / 0
Total number of board meetings during the reporting period / 12
Number of attendances at Board meeting during reporting period / 90
Number of attendances at meetings other than Board meetings / 172
Total number of visits to the prison including all meetings / 262
Total number of written applications received / 13
Total number of verbal applications received / 17
Total number of segregation reviews / N/A
Date of Annual Team Performance Review / 6th August
Applications to the IMB
Code / Subject / 7/8 / 8/9 / 9/10 / 10/11 / 11/12 / 12/13 / 13/14
A / Accommodation / 1 / 0 / 1 / 2 / 0 / 2 / 1
B / Adjudication / 0 / 0 / 2 / 1 / 4 / 2 / 2
C / Diversity related / 0 / 2 / 1 / 5 / 1 / 0 / 2
D / Education/training/employment / 0 / 2 / 4 / 4 / 4 / 2 / 0
E / Family/visits / 0 / 0 / 2 / 3 / 7 / 7 / 1
F / Food/kitchen / 0 / 5 / 2 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0
G / Health related / 0 / 0 / 4 / 3 / 6 / 2 / 5
H1 / Property (within current establishment) / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 2
H2 / Property (during transfer from another establishment / 4 / 5 / 8 / 5 / 6 / 2 / 4
H3 / Canteen, facilities, catalogue shopping, Argos / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0
I / Sentence related / 0 / 0 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 9 / 1
J / Staff/prisoner related / 4 / 4 / 4 / 4 / 6 / 3 / 2
K / Transfers / 0 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 0
L / Miscellaneous / 9 / 10 / 4 / 5 / 12 / 6 / 10
Total number of applications / 18 / 29 / 36 / 36 / 47 / 39 / 30
Conclusion
It is the Board’s opinion that prisoners have and are being treated fairly and with respect and that as far as is possible, given the length of their stay at ESP, they have been given the best opportunity to prepare for life after release.
Clare Hudson
Chair