The Folly of Berwyn

Peter Clarke might try and highlight some positives, but the still-half-empty HMP Berwyn has been a disaster, and the MoJ want to build more:- 

HMP Berwyn - a good start for a new prison but some important weaknesses

HMP Berwyn, a large, two-year-old prison near Wrexham, was found in its first inspection to be generally ordered, with good living conditions, but with some key weaknesses.

Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said that opening a new prison was a big challenge. “The prison opened with a very clear rehabilitative vision which has faced resistance at times. The leadership team are still working hard to find and maintain the right balance between rehabilitation and security, freedom and control, and sanctions and reward.

“Some mistakes have been made and we identify some important weaknesses, but we also acknowledge the great effort that has been made to give this prison a good start. The prison is generally ordered and settled, and… we found Berwyn to be a reasonably respectful place.” There was more to do, though, in the areas of safety, purposeful activity and rehabilitation and release planning.

Though Berwyn is a Welsh prison, about 75% of those held in March 2019 were from England. Around 23% of prisoners felt unsafe at the time of the inspection, a figure comparable with other training prisons. Assaults on prisoners were lower than in similar prisons, but the rate of assaults on staff was higher. There were signs, though, that both were gradually reducing.

Some work was being done to reduce violence but “delivery often lacked drive and needed to be implemented more effectively.” Inspectors found 25 self-isolating prisoners who were completely unsupported. Use of force by staff was higher than in similar prisons and incidents usually involved the full application of restraints. However, oversight was satisfactory.

Drugs had been too readily available, but actions by the prison to reduce drugs supply seemed to have had some impact, and the positive drug testing rate had reduced to 21.49%. This was, however, still too high and supply reduction initiatives required greater coordination and drive. Nearly half of prisoners said it was easy to get drugs and almost one in four said they had developed a drug problem while at the prison.

There had been no self-inflicted deaths since the prison opened and self-harm was comparatively low, but those at risk who inspectors spoke to did not feel well cared for.

Most staff at Berwyn were inexperienced and, though they were doing their best and contributing to a relaxed and positive atmosphere, many prisoners felt frustrated by staff inconsistency and uncertainty. Some poor behaviour went unchallenged.

The quality of accommodation and the general environment were very good, with in-cell showers, telephones and access to amenities. Mr Clarke said: “The prison had been successful in its aim to make such a large prison feel small. There was a real sense of community in most of the wings.”

Employed prisoners had reasonable time out of cell, though it was much worse for those without employment, who had about two and a half hours a day. Inspectors found 28% of prisoners locked up during the working day, “which for a new training prison was very disappointing.”

One of the greatest challenges facing the prison was the lack of activity places. Mr Clarke said: “It is difficult to understand how and why the procurement of work and training places for a new prison could be so delayed. Facing a rising population and too few activity places, prison managers had created a range of activities and there were sufficient places for the current population, but some were of inadequate quality and lacked challenge. Even those that were available were not fully used. Many prisoners were unemployed or failed to attend, and staff did too little to support a sound work ethic.” Those attending education or vocational training, however, generally received excellent teaching, made useful progress and achieved well.

The prison was struggling to develop its approach to offender management and resettlement. The make-up of the population was not as had been originally envisaged. Many prisoners were serving long sentences and presented a high risk of harm. Too many prisoners did not have an up-to-date assessment of risk.

Offender management caseloads were too high and case management was inconsistent and reactive. Public protection measures were similarly weak and the prison lacked sufficient offending behaviour interventions to meet the needs of the population. Work to resettle prisoners was, however, better.

Overall, Mr Clarke said:

“We met many managers and staff who were working hard to make a success of this new prison. Senior managers described themselves as ‘being on a journey’ and we saw lots of work, many policies and numerous plans. What was needed was better oversight, better coordination and more sustained delivery. The staff seemed to us to be a strength of the prison, but they needed support in delivering the basics consistently. We thought the prison had made a good start. We were impressed by the energy and optimism we observed and there was clearly the potential to move on rapidly.”

Notes to editors

A copy of the full report, published on 11 July 2019, can be found here.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons is an independent inspectorate, inspecting places of detention to report on conditions and treatment, and promote positive outcomes for those detained and the public.

In 2014, permission was granted for a prison to be built in Wrexham, and Berwyn opened on 27 February 2017. Built on a former Firestone Tyre site, Berwyn (when full) is the largest prison in England and Wales and the second largest in Europe. This report records HMIP’s first inspection of HMP Berwyn. It is the first prison to open under the management of the public sector for several years. Designated a category C training prison, the establishment held 1,273 prisoners at the time of the inspection. They were held in three residential units, which in turn were subdivided into a total of eight communities. In time the prison will be able to hold 2,106 prisoners, although we were told that currently numbers are capped to allow for the build-up of staff as well as additional activity for prisoners.

Notable features from this inspection: only a quarter of the population were Welsh; the prison’s capacity was 2,106 prisoners but it held 1,273; just over three-quarters of the population were serving sentences of four years or more; almost half of prisoners said drugs were easily available; three-quarters of officers had been in service for less than two years and about a third for less than a year; all cells had a shower, telephone and laptop computer; levels of self-harm were low for the type of prison.

This unannounced inspection took place between 4 and 14 March 2019.

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Frances Crook of the Howard League can barely contain her anger:-

Berwyn prison: are we tolerating the intolerable?

I am still very angry about Berwyn prison. I was furious when it was proposed, furious when it was built and now it’s two years since it opened and I’m furious because I have been proved right.

Berwyn prison is built on a former industrial estate in Wrexham, an area that desperately needs infrastructure and employment investment. Instead, it got a prison costing some £250 million that has been beset with problems and has drained local health and police resources.

Berwyn was intended to hold over 2,000 adult men on remand and on short sentences. This was obviously a nonsense as Wrexham is not near to the courts it would have served. So instead its purpose was changed and now it is ostensibly a Category C training prison and holds men serving longer sentences, mostly two to ten years.

Immediately there is a problem. The design did not include sufficient activity spaces for all the men as it was envisaged they would only be in the prison for short periods. Now that men are living in the prison for years, a third of them are locked up almost all day because there are not enough facilities for them to work or do education.

The prison is shoddy. Prisons tend to be used for decades, sometimes centuries. So as well as wasting all that capital money, the taxpayer is ploughing tens of millions into the prison for generations, and the cost of maintenance will increase as the building was simply not built to a standard to last that long.

Berwyn contravenes international standards. The United Nations Mandela Rules, Rule 12 says “Where sleeping accommodation is in individual cells or rooms, each prisoner shall occupy by night a cell or room by himself or herself.” And the rules go on to stipulate that there should be natural light and proper ventilation. None of this applies in Berwyn. Men are forced to share cells and the toilet is inside the cell. So in modern prison, men have to defecate in front of a cell mate, with little ventilation. Revolting.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons has now published Berwyn’s first inspection report, which is disappointing because it seems we now tolerate the intolerable. The tenor of the report is that it made “a good start” whilst acknowledging that there are some important weaknesses. I disagree. The prison should never have been built, the design is flawed, and it is failing to get men busy or to protect the public. As many prisons are now in a deplorable state, the bar is set so low that any prison not totally awash with drugs and violence is apparently making a “good start”, despite a high use of violence by staff to control prisoners, nearly a third of men locked up all day (that’s nearly 400 men) and a quarter saying they feel unsafe.

There is reluctant recognition that Berwyn is not fit for purpose as two years since it opened it is still only half full. If it ever holds 2,000 men it will be a disaster. It is failing today – failing victims, failing prisoners, failing the local community in North Wales and failing the taxpayer. Yet the government plans to build even more Berwyns.

Frances Crook