Staffordshire prison unsafe, says watchdog
A Staffordshire prison has been declared unsafe by watchdogs due to high levels of self-harm and use of force by officers as well as the presence of drugs such as Spice.
Inspectors have today published their findings following a visit to HMP Dovegate in May and June, which also raised concerns about certain ethnicities being treated differently to others.
The HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) said the issues at the Category B men's prison which is managed privately by Serco and has around 1,000 inmates, were similar to those identified during an inspection in 2015.
A statement from HMIP said: "The key concern for inspectors was that the prison was still not safe enough.
"Levels of violence had dropped from a peak in 2016 but remained too high, despite some recent improvement over the last year.
"About a fifth of assaults were serious and a quarter of prisoners felt unsafe.
"Encouragingly, though, the prison seemed to be putting in place meaningful strategies to reduce this problem."
HMIP confirmed one inmate had killed himself since 2015 and self-harm was high but stated a small number of prisoners were responsible for a third of recent incidents.
They also said the availability of illicit substances including brewed alcohol and psychoactive substances was 'considerable'.
While inspectors also feared black and Muslim prisoners were treated worse than white offenders.
HMIP stated: "The substantial number of black and minority ethnic and Muslim prisoners reported far less favourably than white and non-Muslim prisoners about their treatment across a range of areas. There was little consultation with them to identify their concerns or needs."
Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said: "Overall we remain positive about Dovegate’s future. The prison was well led and staff seemed to be growing in confidence.
"Meaningful work was being undertaken to address weaknesses and some early successes were evident. We left the prison with a number of recommendations which we trust will assist the process of improvement.”
Michael Spurr, Chief Executive of HM Prison and Probation Service, said: “This Inspection highlights good work being done at Dovegate but raises a number of serious concerns, particularly around safety, which need to be addressed. Serco have developed a robust action plan to drive improvement, based on the Chief Inspector’s recommendations. We will closely monitor progress over the coming months.”
