HMP Risley told to improve as inspectors find myriad of problems

Prisoners at HMP Risley did not have sufficient time out of their cells, inspectors said

Unstable leadership at a prison has led to a myriad of problems including high levels of self-harm and poor conditions, a watchdog has found.

HMP Risley, in Cheshire, has been told to take immediate action, after an HM Inspectorate of Prisons inspection.

A total of 14 key concerns were identified by inspectors during the unannounced inspection in April.

The Prison Service said it accepted improvements needed to be made and action was already being taken.

At the time of the inspection, the Warrington jail housed 1,032 prisoners comprising category C inmates as well as convicted sex offenders.

In the report Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said: "For the last two years, the leadership had been unstable, with temporary governors being in post for most of that time."

He added that while the current acting governor had worked hard to make improvements, "the prison was still not fulfilling its function as a category C resettlement prison".

'Astonishing failure'

Inspectors found prisoners were locked up for 22 hours a day in a prison that had "not created enough places in work or education".

Concerns were also raised about public protection arrangements, which included some high-risk prisoners being left homeless on their release.

Convicted sex offenders were also being released without completing offending behaviour work specific to their risks, despite inspectors raising it as a concern in 2016.

"This represents an astonishing failure by the prison service, which has been far too slow in putting provision in place," Mr Taylor said.

Living conditions had also deteriorated across many wings with some parts of the prison now beyond repair, with 200 foreign national prisoners enduring some of the worst conditions.

Showers were in a particularly poor state, inspectors found

Mr Taylor said the prison's safety score had improved and overall levels of violence were similar to those in comparable prisons and it felt reasonably safe.

However, leaders had not identified that levels of violence among the general inmate population were higher than similar prisons when excluding those convicted of sexual offences," he said.

The Prison Service said: "We accept improvements must be made and we are already taking decisive action to address the serious issues raised in this report.

"We are recruiting more probation officers at HMP Risley, to improve the risk-assessment of serious offenders and rolling out a dedicated programme to better manage sex offenders.

"We are also now supporting prisoners at risk of homelessness when released with basic, temporary housing, while they find a more permanent home."

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