A report out this morning from the Chief Inspector of Prisons has found that
HMP Forest Bank, the only reception and resettlement prison in the Greater Manchester area, was a prison unable to fulfil its role successfully.
The unannounced inspection made in February followed a 45-day improvement notice that was issued by the government in August last year
The prison held 1,354 prisoners, nearly 300 above its baseline capacity, and as a consequence, prisoners were often diverted to other establishments on arrival, undermining the core focus of the jail.
Ofsted rated education provision as ‘inadequate’ the lowest possible grading.
Leaders were not identifying key weaknesses in teaching and training, and there was an overall lack of planning which left prisoners unable to learn useful skills while in custody.
Those who had additional needs were not sufficiently supported. It was unsurprising, then, that inspectors found provision of purposeful activity to be severely lacking, judging it ‘poor’.
Prisoners were locked in their cells for most of the day with limited or no access to the gym or library.
Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons, said:
“Leaders showed limited ambition to improve this situation,” adding: “It was clear to us that the prison needed to re-think both what constituted a useful and meaningful regime and how they approached supporting resettlement for a largely transient population.”
Some improvements had been made to safety, but inspectors identified some concerns.
Despite a 25% reduction, Forest Bank remained the fourth most violent prison in the country.
Violent incidents were investigated appropriately and the challenge, support, and intervention plan (CSIP) was embedded effectively to deal with perpetrators, but the adjudications process was overwhelmed by the number of cases, leaving some violent offenders unpunished.
Mr Taylor described Forest Bank as a “prison in transition”:
“The prison was still dealing with some significant weaknesses; however, our findings were more encouraging.”
