UK: Unannounced full follow-up inspection of HMP Whitemoor
01 November 2008
HMP Whitemoor is a high security dispersal prison, holding men convicted of very serious offences. Like the other dispersals, it was facing increased risks: more gang activity, more young men serving very long sentences and a small number of men convicted of terrorist offences. There were also other challenges.
Whitemoor's black and minority ethnic population had recently expanded significantly - rising to 150, of whom 120 were Muslims - in an area, and with a staff group, which was almost exclusively white. Finally, there was evidence of a significant drug problem, particularly heroin use. There had been some progress - use of force and segregation had reduced and was being more effectively monitored; and there were well-developed plans to move out the prison's vulnerable prisoner population, who were not properly being supported. However, more than half of the prisoners surveyed said that they had felt unsafe at Whitemoor: significantly more than at other high security prisons, or at Whitemoor itself at the previous inspection. There was evidence that the segregation unit and the inpatient unit were being used as places of safety. In addition, there had been a number of self-inflicted deaths since the previous inspection - many of them prisoners with a diagnosis of severe personality disorder. There had been some improvements in support for suicidal prisoners, but there was over-use of gated cells and under-use of safer custody officers.
A fundamental problem was that relationships between staff and prisoners in general, except on the specialist units, were distant and distrustful. Though a personal officer scheme had begun, it had little impact on relationships, and significantly fewer prisoners than in other high security prisons said that staff treated them with respect, or that they had staff they could turn to. It was not evident that staff were either challenging or motivating prisoners. This problem was particularly acute with black and minority ethnic prisoners: 42% of the population. While the structures for managing race had improved, black and minority prisoners' perceptions had deteriorated since the previous inspection and were significantly worse than those of other prisoners. Worst of all were the relationships between staff and the 120 Muslim prisoners. Staff appeared to have little idea of, and to have been given no support in, how to relate to this group, except as suspected national security risks or extremists - even though only eight of the 120 Muslims had been convicted of terrorist offences.
Anne Owers, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons commented:
There had undoubtedly been some improvements at Whitemoor since the previous inspection. However, at the same time, the population had become more challenging, and it was not evident that the prison had yet been able to rise to those challenges. The imminent departure of vulnerable prisoners should allow staff and managers to focus on managing the considerable and growing risks. This, however, will require active management and much greater staff engagement with all prisoners. In particular, as we have said in relation to other prisons, especially high security prisons, the Prison Service as a whole needs to equip staff better to deal with the growing number of Muslim prisoners. This inspection and others have charted a growing disaffection and distance between those prisoners and the prison system: a gap which urgently needs to be bridged.
Report on an unannounced full follow-up inspection of HMP Whitemoor 7-11 April 2008 by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, report compiled June 2008, Published Friday 10th October 2008