HMP Onley: Staff levels having 'severe impact' on prisoners

"Dire" staff shortages at a prison were having a "severe impact" on the progress of its inmates, the chief inspector of prisons warned.

Charlie Taylor said the issue at HMP Onley in Northamptonshire was "one of the worst" he had ever seen.

He said levels of violence were higher than in similar prisons and the quality of education offered was "poor".

A Prison Service spokesman said violence at the jail had dropped and outcomes for prisoners had improved.

HMP Onley is a men's category C training and resettlement jail for criminals mostly sent there from London.

Inspectors visited for two days in May and five days in June.

Mr Taylor's report was particularly critical of staffing levels and said there was a "shortfall of around 40 prison officers, 20 operational support grades and nine workshop instructors, and less than half of the catering staff were in post".

"Out of a population of 732 [inmates], less than half were working or attending education, and... even these prisoners were only spending half the day off the wing," he said.

"Moreover... short staffing was leading to it being frequently curtailed, a situation that was worse during the weekends.

"The quality of education was poor and the curriculum did not meet the needs of prisoners."

Workshops stood empty and greenhouses in the prison's market garden were "falling apart", he said.

The report said violent incidents had fallen by 65% since the previous inspection in 2018, but remained higher than in similar institutions.

It said limited time out of cells and poor access to work contributed to the situation.

Some 38% of prisoners told inspectors they felt unsafe at times.

Mr Taylor cited the proximity of the neighbouring privately-run HMP Rye Hill, and state-run HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough, which both paid higher wages, as reasons why staff were not attracted to Onley.

However, he said, officers "should be congratulated for the work they had put into reducing the supply of drugs" at the prison.

"Lower levels of violence, and the end of the Covid-19 restrictions, offer a springboard for leaders at Onley to open up the regime and motivate prisoners, many of whom have become indolent after two years of lockdowns, so that the prison can really fulfil its function as a category C prison," Mr Taylor said.

"Unless the dire staffing situation improves however, it is hard to see how this can be achieved."

A spokesman for the Prison Service highlighted the 65% drop in violent incidents.

"Across the prison estate we have recruited 4,000 extra staff in the last four years and have committed to increasing the number of officers in public and private sector prisons by 5,000 by the mid-2020s," he said.

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