Independent Monitoring Board report finds Lowdham Grange Prison in Nottinghamshire “is not safe enough” in a report to the Ministry of Justice.

An independent review has found that a prison “is not safe enough” in a report to the Ministry of Justice.

Independent Monitoring Board’s announced their verdict after the contract was handed over at Nottinghamshire’s privately run Lowdham Grange Prison.

A raft of problems were highlighted in the Board’s report, including six deaths in custody, increased violence among prisoners, and increased assaults on staff.

The report also found that Lowdham Grange produced the largest weapons find in any prison, large finds of illegally brewed alcohol, and large numbers of illegally held mobile phones.

Alongside this, there was increased self harm by prisoners, and 50% of mandatory drug tests proved positive.

The prison was the first in Britain to undergo a change of contractor.

Concerns raised during the handover sparked an unannounced inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons and following their highly critical report His Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS) stepped in to take over the running of the prison.

It is now being taken back into full public ownership.

The Borad states that many of the problems at the Category B high security prison can be traced to staffing problems.

An unexpectedly high number of staff left at the time of the contract change. The remaining staff felt overworked and the numbers off sick caused serious concern, making the staff shortages worse and adding to the spiral of decline according to the board.

Lack of staff meant the prison operated a ‘red regime’ for long periods where the prisoners were locked up in single cells all day except for their statutory half hour of exercise.

Prisoners complained that on one weekend they were not released at all from Friday afternoon until Monday morning.

Shortly after the ‘step-in’ by HMPPS the prison was locked down for a week for a thorough search by specialist teams.

The number of improvised weapons recovered was the biggest ever found in such a search.

Large quantities of drugs, mainly psychoactive substances or ‘spice’, and other contraband such as mobile phones were seized. Gallons of home-brewed “hooch” were discovered as well as a still used for producing spirits.

Independent Monitoring Board members also raised concerns over health care for prisoners, particularly for the high numbers with mental health problems.

The unit run by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust was understaffed. Nurses were told not to go into the prison wings except in emergencies because of safety concerns. The shortage of prison officers meant many prisoners missed clinical appointments because there were no staff to escort them.

There were six deaths in custody during the year from March 2023 to February 2024, only one of which was due to natural causes.

Following inquests into previous deaths at Lowdham Grange the Coroner published Notices for Prevention of Future Deaths which were highly critical of the prison’s lack of efforts to learn lessons, to institute or enforce policies, or to educate staff.

The Coroner also criticised the lack of candour by the prison management, officers, and the health care team in withholding evidence to the inquest.

The IMB’s full report is attached, and can be found at imb.org.uk/documents/

The HMIP report is at: www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/08/Lowdham-Grange-web-2023.pdf

The prison is now being run by HMPPS with a mix of staff from the prison service and the private contractor, Sodexo, as it transitions to a fully publicly owned prison later in the summer.