'Vicious circle' in prison before inmate's death

The court heard Lowdham Grange twice took in 20 extra prisoners in two tranches following a request from the Ministry of Justice in 2023

A prison in Nottinghamshire where an inmate died was suffering from a "vicious circle" of problems, an inquest has heard.

Damian Evans was director of HMP Lowdham Grange from 17 April 2023 until 10 October that year.

The following day Ricky Crosher, 40, originally from Basildon in Essex, died after he was found hanging in his cell.

Mr Evans told Nottingham Coroner's Court on Tuesday he was "struggling to deliver what was required" while in charge of the Category B jail.

Ricky Crosher died at HMP Lowdham Grange on 11 October 2023

A jury heard Mr Evans had worked in the prison service across the public and private sectors since 1992, and before coming to Lowdham Grange had been working as a director at HMP Peterborough.

He was appointed as the mobilisation director when the contract for running Lowdham Grange was won by Sodexo, previously held by Serco, in what was the first transfer of a prison between private companies in England and Wales.

Mr Evans told the court staffing problems that were present under Serco's tenure continued after the transfer to Sodexo on 16 February 2023, with recruitment and training among the issues that affected implementing their model for running the jail.

He said a number of Lowdham Grange officers transferred to other Serco sites, including the recently opened HMP Fosse Way, adding records on staff training were incomplete after the handover.

The inquest jury has heard three prisoners at Lowdham Grange died in March 2023, and the following month Mr Evans said he "volunteered" to be director of the prison after the "unexpected" departure of his predecessor.

He said staffing continued to be an issue, and undermined efforts to address other areas.

"I think many people working in prisons would recognise that vicious circle," he said.

'Stop the rot'

The court heard Lowdham Grange twice took in 20 extra prisoners in two tranches following a request from the Ministry of Justice during 2023, giving it places for more than 900 inmates.

Mr Evans said it would have been "very, very difficult so early into the contract to explain" how staffing issues could be impacted by extra inmates, adding the high prison population nationally was also a factor.

"There were extreme population pressures at the time," he said.

"I don't think we were really in a position to refuse."

In August 2023 an improvement notice was issued by the government, and the following month a letter was sent raising concerns about how the jail was being run.

The inquest has also previously heard the trade union Community had also written a letter to Mr Evans directly in September saying it had lost confidence in him.

While admitting he was "struggling to deliver what was required", he said it was "very difficult" to relay concerns to his managers about whether the plans for running the prison were "unachievable".

"My view is that I had to be optimistic, because if the director, if the leader of the prison isn't projecting an optimistic [image], then what's the response from staff going to be?

"I'm going to bring them down with me, unless I believe there can be progress," he told jurors.

When asked by area coroner Laurinda Bower if he had managed to "stop the rot" before he left, Mr Evans said: "No, I don't think I achieved that, much to my regret."

Crosher died the day after Mr Evans - now the governor of HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes - left Lowdham Grange.

The inquest continues.