Norwich prison criticised for high levels of violence and self-harm

Prison inspectors found a "severe" shortage of officers and high levels of violence and self-harm amongst inmates at HMP Norwich

A prison has a "severe" shortage of officers and high levels of violence and self-harm amongst inmates, a critical watchdog inspection found.

An HM Inspectorate of Prisons report on HMP Norwich found 13 key concerns with six requiring "immediate attention".

Inspectors found an inability to retain staff as a "principal cause" of the problems, the report said.

HM Prison Service said improvements were being made.

An unannounced inspection in August and September found the prison, which holds about 700 adult male category B, C and D prisoners, had improved in terms of respect, rehabilitation and release planning but safety was "still not sufficiently good".

HMP Norwich has occupied its site overlooking the city centre since 1887 and can house category B, C and D prisoners and those on remand

HM chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, said six priority concerns included a high and rising number of violent and use-of-force incidents and a rise in numbers of prisoners who had to be segregated.

Three prisoners had taken their own lives since the last inspection in late 2019 and self-harm was higher than at comparable prisons.

He added that the prison was also "struggling to provide purposeful activity" with nearly two-thirds of prisoners locked up during the working day.

Time spent unlocked was poor for most inmates and access to open air insufficient, the report said.

The report noted that education inspectors from Ofsted had found the overall effectiveness of education, skills and work activities to be "inadequate".

This contributed to HM Inspectorate of Prisons rating purposeful activity as "poor overall".

Monitoring arrangements for those with public protection concerns were also not effective with prisoners' telephone calls not being listened to.

HM Prison Service said improvements were being made at the prison but it still faced "challenges"

Mr Taylor said these priority concerns should be addressed immediately.

He added that an inability to retain staff was the main cause of the issues.

"New officers had been recruited, but the number of new arrivals was failing to keep pace with the number leaving, despite interventions from leaders aimed at supporting staff more visibly on the wings," he said.

He added that inspectors found "some improvements already in place" and the leadership team was "committed and effective" but there was a "troubling disconnect" between those leaders and the staff in terms of engagement and morale.

An HM Prison Service spokesperson said the report highlighted both the improvements being made under the current leadership and the challenges it continued to face.

"To address these we have increased pay significantly to help recruit and retain more prison officers," a statement said.

"This will allow us to provide more access to the skills, education and support programmes that will put offenders back on the straight and narrow."