Devon prison makes 'encouraging progress', say inspectors

Channings Wood: Some prisoners spoke about violence and bullying

A prison in Devon has made "encouraging progress" but is not providing adequate care for all prisoners, say inspectors.

In 2019, Channings Wood, near Newton Abbot, was rated "not sufficiently good" in all four of inspectors' healthy prison tests.

After an inspection in July, "outcomes" were now "reasonably good", but there were "serious shortcomings" in the care of some prisoners, a new report said.

Prison bosses welcomed the report, and also said that violence "is declining".

Channings Wood is a Category C men's prison, with just over a third of the 662 prisoners held at the time of the inspection having been convicted of a sex offence.

The latest report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons investigated safety, respect, rehabilitation and release planning.

'Credible violence allegations'

Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said governor Richard Luscombe had an "impressive and ambitious vision for the prison", with a "passion and strong commitment to deliver on the prison's training and resettlement purpose".

But he added: "Although the majority reported good care and feeling safe, there was a minority who spoke about credible allegations of violence and bullying.

"Inspectors were concerned that, not only were these prisoners not sufficiently safeguarded, but that they were being held in dirty and ill-equipped cells on arrival."

Among the inspectors' discoveries was a lack of functioning CCTV across the prison.

"Blind spots meant prisoners feared violent incidents would not be detected," said the report.

It also said newly-arrived vulnerable prisoners did not have safe or decent conditions.

Cells were not always clean or adequately equipped and new arrivals "were exposed to the risk of violence, bullying and intimidation from other prisoners".

Mr Taylor concluded: "While the ambition for the prison was encouraging, it remains critical that leaders still pay attention to the fundamentals and safeguard the care and conditions for all their prisoners."

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "We welcome the encouraging progress highlighted in this report.

"Violence is declining at the prison, assisted by our £125m investment in security, which is helping to root out the illicit items that fuel disorder behind bars."