Deerbolt prison and Young Offenders Institute has been found to be ‘not safe enough’ by the prisons watchdog.
During its latest inspection of the prison, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons found extensive drug use, including one incident where 40 people collapsed after a bad batch of drugs entered the prison.
Deerbolt prison holds 474 prisoners, with one third under the age of 25. During a previous inspection, in 2021, it was found to have ‘insufficient’ safety’ with ‘poor’ regime and activity provisions. The recent inspection released finds little improvement with areas that had previously been ‘reasonable’ noticeably deteriorating.
One priority concern was the availability of illicit drugs, with almost 40% of randomly tests being positive. In November 2024 10% of the prison population became unwell after a batch of drugs made it past security.
Prisoners were also found to not have sufficient access to healthcare. These priority issues around health safety were highlighted in the 2021 inspection, yet they continue to threaten prisoner safety.
Contributing to safety issues; Deerbolt has the highest rate of self-harm in prisoners compared to similar prisons, and the second-highest rate of violence. Alongside this the inspection noted the prisons staff were ‘inexperienced’, contributing to a high use of force, incapacitation sprays and poor prisoner-staff relationships.
Peter Dawson, former chair of the Prison Reform Trust, said that this heightened aggression is inevitable due to the lack of opportunities provided: ‘it’s no surprise that their frustration and pent up energy results in violence.’ Over-restriction found in Deerbolt has resulted in a ‘disappointing’ provision of skills education and work, with an Ofsted rating of ‘inadequate’. 30% of the prisoners spent the majority of their days locked up, they are offered an hour of exercise on weekday mornings although there is no access to exercise equipment.
The government’s aim that Deerbolt act as a model of the treatment of young men in prisons is ‘deeply worrying’ according to Peter Dawson, the Director of the Prison Reform Trust.
