HMP Deerbolt inmates locked up for 23 hours a day - report

Young offenders were often left in cells for up to 23 hours a day because of staff shortages, sparking "high levels" of violence, inspectors found.

The HM Inspectorate of Prisons found workshops put on for HMP Deerbolt inmates were often empty because there were not enough guards to escort them.

The report said as inmates spent so little time being engaged or tired out, it caused fights to break out.

Inspectors said progress by bosses had so far been too slow.

They said they left the prison, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, "without any assurance that managers would be able to deliver the safe and reliable full-time regime their population needed".

The report followed 12 recommendations made to HMP Deerbolt - a young offenders institution and Category C training prison which currently has 270 inmates aged 18 to 24 - in an inspection in July.

Inspectors then had said activities were poor - the lowest grade - and said safety was not sufficiently good.

However, officials who visited in March said they still found inmates were left stuck inside cells for hours, often only spending 30 minutes a day in the fresh air.

And during those opportunities they said they saw "prisoners with their backs to the perimeter of the exercise yards, clearly anxious for their safety".

The report said 24 front-line staff had resigned in the past year and sickness had hit remaining staff.

"At the time of our visit, there was no realistic prospect of the prison being able to deliver access to full-time work or education safely and routinely, even for the currently much reduced population," it said.

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said progress "to improve the poor regime had been slow".

Mr Taylor also said violence between prisoners was higher than at the 2021 inspection, with some of it "very serious".

The report said more than half of violent incidents were fights, with inexperienced staff allowing prisoners in conflict to see each other.

Mr Taylor said: "Very limited time out of cell contributed to prisoners' frustration and levels of violence. Staff shortages meant that violence was not always easy to manage."

Progress had been made with improvements to the segregation unit and the introduction of in-cell phones, the report said, on all but one wing.

However, Mr Taylor said: "They will need to move quickly to address staff shortages, restore purposeful activity and reduce the high levels of violence."

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "We are pleased that inspectors recognised our staff's tireless work to improve safety.

"Restrictions continue to be eased in line with government guidance and the prison is working through an action plan to ensure activities that the pandemic prevented can get back up and running."

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