Treatment of at-risk prisoners key concern of Isle of Man inspection

Inadequate treatment of at-risk prisoners, public protection and governance have been raised as key concerns after a prison inspection.

The inspection of the Isle of Man Prison was undertaken by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP).

It was the first evaluation of its kind since 2011 and the second overall since the Jurby facility opened in 2008.

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) said steps were being taken to address the concerns raised.

The HMIP outlined 14 key concerns, six of which should be treated as priorities.

Among these was a concern over public protection arrangements, described as "not robust".

It said a "lack of offence-focused interventions meant that most prisoners were released without addressing their offending behaviour or risk of harm to others".

The report noted that there had been "three self-inflicted deaths in recent times", which needed "full, independent investigation".

It said the "treatment of prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm was inadequate" and the "use of segregation, and especially special unfurnished cells, was inappropriate for people in crisis".

"The prison's approach to reducing self-harm lacked focus on care for the individual, promotion of well-being and accountability, and was characterised by responses that were often reactive and disproportionate," it said.

The inspection did however recognise the staff and inmate relationships were strong, with 88% of prisoners reporting there were people "they felt they could turn to if they had a problem", which was "significantly better than in comparator prisons".

It also showed that 84% of respondents told the HMIP staff treated them with respect.

Other concerns included limited education, work and training on offer at the facility, and issues with poor data collection and recording.

In response the DHA said a number of initiatives had already been launched, which addressed a number of the concerns.

A spokesman for the DHA said: "These interventions and utilisation of specialist staff are designed to better address offending behaviour and are expected to significantly contribute towards improvement in ratings of rehabilitation and release planning."

It added that it had requested that HMIP return in 2024 to assess the progress that had been made at that point.

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