Overcrowded prison criticised by inspectors

Inspectors said many prisoners were living in overcrowded conditions

Too many inmates are living in crowded conditions at a prison, inspectors have said.

Inspectors, who visited HMP Hewell in Worcestershire in June, said new prisoners were not given work, training or education opportunities quickly enough and many were not assessed properly when they arrived.

In a report published on Monday, the inspectors described the men's prison, near Redditch, as overcrowded, but they did praise work being done to remove drugs from the prison, and relationships between prisoners and staff.

The BBC has approached the Ministry of Justice for comment.

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said the jail faced "significant challenges", adding it had capacity for 1,094 and held just over 1,000 men at the time of the inspection. Just over half of the prisoners were living in overcrowded conditions, with two sharing a cell designed for one.

Inspectors said they found some improvements in what was the first full inspection since 2022, but of 13 concerns raised three years ago, "only six had been fully addressed".

Safety was a concern and while the prison was calm, the rate of violence was higher than in similar establishments.

He said mentally unwell men waited for too long to transfer to a mental health unit and

'Good care' delivered

However, Mr Taylor also said physical security measures had improved to prevent drone incursion and drug use seemed lower than at comparable prisons.

He said the prison's peer mentors were doing "excellent work", prisoners were gaining useful skills and the mental health and substance misuse teams were delivering good care.

The jail's new governor had already shown "a clear understanding of the issues and had a real long-term commitment to the prison and a willingness to learn from inspection findings," he added.

Other key concerns included too little being done to promote positive behaviour, and limited support for those at risk of suicide or self-harm.

Support for foreign nationals was lacking and many men got little time out of their cells, with about 40% locked up for more than 21 hours a day.

Inspectors raised concerns about teaching of English and maths, and said a strategy to ensure a culture of reading among the prisoners was not fully implemented.

Too many prisoners were released homeless or without sustainable accommodation, inspectors said.

The next step was for the prison governor to read the report and then make a plan of how to fix the problems, they added.