‘Fragile’ Maghaberry

A follow up inspection notes some improvement at HMP Maghaberry but states that significant work is still required to ensure the prison is fit for the 21st century.

 

Seven months after a multi-disciplinary team of inspectors found Maghaberry Prison to be unsafe for both prisoners and staff an announced follow up inspection has indicated that situation has improved but warned the progress remains ‘fragile’.

In May 2015 Inspectors from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons and Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland carried out an announced inspection of the prison. The findings from this this inspection, published last November echoed those of a report in 2006 that found that “Maghaberry was not providing Northern Ireland either with value for money, or with effective public protection.”

The November report called for urgent action to strengthen leadership and improve the care of vulnerable prisoners. This urgent action has been taken with the latest report noting that a new governor and a senior management team is now in place and they have put in place ‘credible’ plans to tackle the safety issues that remain.

Safety

The Prisoner Escort and Court Custody Service met with prisoners to identify and tackle prisoners’ concerns and found that while reception processes were mainly efficient, induction still needed to be improved. The strategic management of security is improving and the report notes that key security challenges specific to Maghaberry were being identified and assessed.

While inspectors praise the Prisoner Safety Support Team and the Donard Centre for their work with many vulnerable prisoners and those in crisis, they also state a need for a comprehensive safer custody strategy to better manage the significant challenges presented by an increasingly vulnerable population. The inspectors were also critical of allegations of assault by staff on prisoners which ‘need urgent management attention.’

Patrolling and supervision of yards and communal areas on the square houses has commenced and there are plans to extend to this to all residential areas. A major refurbishment project is now underway in the segregation unit though conditions in some of the temporary units are described as ‘grim.’ At present the monitoring of segregation and governance of special accommodation remained inadequate. However, the inspectors are satisfied that ‘credible’ plans are in place to improve this.

The mental health needs of some segregated prisoners had not been assessed and were not being met and in general, while prisoners’ psychosocial support has improved and the Mandatory Drugs test is now well managed clinical care for those with drug treatment needs has deteriorated. The inspectors found that tradeable medication was given in-possession too often which contributed to the availability of illicit drugs and diverted medication throughout the prison.

Respect

At the last inspection the outcomes for respect of prisoners was poor. However, this follow up inspection found that attention has been given to reducing the impact of the separated prisoner units on the rest of the prison, support for disabled prisoners has improved and some aspects of primary health care have also improved.

However, the report notes that mental health provisions have deteriorated and require urgent attention and more needs to be done to meet the needs of all protected groups and Catholic prisoners. Overall prisoners remained negative about many aspects of respect and decency and while improvements have been made to the square houses they still remained poor quality accommodation.

The recent introduction of staff rotation and support scheme in separated units was a positive step though maintaining this regime for separated prisoners which included commitments about minimal curtailment and enhanced staffing levels was still impacting on the rest of the prison. Prisoners still remain negative about the food and although meals are now served at more appropriate times, supervision at meal time remains inadequate. An improved complaints system has resulted in better organisation as 80 per cent of outstanding complaints, a large proportion of which related to dissatisfaction with accommodation, have been addressed.

Purposeful activity

In November’s report inspectors warned that the prison’s learning and skills provisions were inadequate and in need of urgent improvement. However during this follow up inspection they noted that reasonable progress had been made.

Since the last inspection the universal core day has been implemented and this allows for prisoners in full-time work to achieve over nine hours a day out of cell, although staff shortages continue to impact on the delivery of this regime and curtailment was still frequent.

With regards to prisoner learning the report notes that strategic planning and joint working between the Belfast Metropolitan College and the Northern Ireland Prison Service was enhancing opportunities for prisoners to undertake good quality activities. Despite this improved collaboration, the curriculum on offer remains too narrow and some aspects of the provision were not planned coherently or sufficiently aligned to the Northern Ireland economy. There is limited opportunity to gain vocational qualifications above level 1 and opportunities to study GCSE English and maths requires further development.

Library services have improved and physical education provision remains good, however attendance at gym sessions has decreased by roughly 20 per cent year-on-year as access to the gym during weekends has become increasingly restricted.

Resettlement

While previously rated as reasonably good, the latest inspection also noted that there has been an improvement in better understanding the needs of the population. The Prisoner Development Unit is still very short of staff although advanced plans to fill these vacancies are now underway.

The inspectors noted that a good range of offending behaviour programmes are still being delivered and improvements have been made to the already strong children and family provisions with visits now starting on time. Similarly reasonable support was offered in resettlement pathways although the inspectors note that more could be done to publicise such provision to prisoners.

The report does express concern that Prison Service Sentence Managers were now completing release planning work for low and medium-risk prisoners. This task demands more risk management expertise than they previously required and while public protection arrangements remained generally sound, inspectors were concerned that some risks to the public not covered by the Public Protection Arrangements Northern Ireland framework were being missed.

Speaking following the publication of the latest inspection the Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland, Brendan McGuigan welcomed the action taken by the Prison Service to address these serious concerns but stressed that more needs to be done to bring the prison up to the required standard.

“Historically, we have found Maghaberry to be a prison which has struggled to adapt and one where the legacy of the past has been a major impediment to its progress in providing safe, decent and rehabilitative outcomes for the men held there,” said McGuigan.

“As an indication of our commitment to managing the risks identified in our November 2015 inspection report, it is our intention over the next 18 months to support the prison governors at Maghaberry, to oversee the delivery of the nine inspection recommendations, through a series of announced, low-impact visits to the prison.”

Justice Minster David Ford said:

“I welcome this latest report by CJINI which recognises Maghaberry is a complex and challenging environment for prisoners and staff. Progress has been made across a range of areas and inspectors have highlighted in particular the improvements made around safety and leadership since their last visit.

“However, there are still concerns about the level of violence and drugs misuse which must be addressed through both changes in regime and a renewed focus on searching and security measures.

“The inspectors also raised concerns regarding healthcare provision. Staff in Maghaberry will continue to work closely with the South Eastern Trust to support their work to address these issues.”

The Minister added: “I do not underestimate the challenges which remain but I welcome this independent verification that progress has been made. This should give staff, prisoners and their families confidence that Maghaberry is a prison delivering for people in custody and playing its part in building a safer community.”

Commenting on the report, Prison Service Director General Sue McAllister said: “Since the last inspection the Prison Service has taken actions to improve the immediate performance of Maghaberry as well as putting in place a longer term plan to ensure the prison is delivering better outcomes for prisoners.

“Significant work has been taken forward so that resources are in place and focussed upon delivering a predictable and effective regime for prisoners and a safer environment for everyone at the prison.

“The report states the prison has stabilised and progress has been made across a range of areas. This is welcome. However we agree these are early days – that progress must be built upon and continue.”