HMP Five Wells report highlights 'serious concerns' at Wellingborough prison with ‘upward’ trend for phones, hooch and weapons - and drugs routinely available

In their latest report covering the period from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) Five Wells panel found issues raised in the previous year had not been adequately addressed and in some cases had got worse.

Previous concerns included drugs, food shortages, staff safety and a lack of prisoner work opportunities – and the problems with drugs and other illicit items have once again been raised.

During the period of the review, more than one quarter of prisoners randomly tested had drugs in their systems.

The report said: “The board continues to be seriously concerned about the number and range of illicit items found in the prison.

"Drugs appear to be routinely available, random drug tests have consistently resulted in a positive rate of at least 25 per cent throughout the year, and efforts to reduce the ingress – dog patrols, increased randomised searching, additional drug testing – appear to have had only modest or temporary success.”

Staff have changed their searches to be ‘less predictable’ and boundary patrols have been increased to discourage ‘throwovers’ – parcels are thrown over the prison walls for prisoners.

As well as drugs, the board noted more illicit items being found including home-made alcohol, mobile phones and weapons.

The IMB said: “The trend of finds remains upwards and especially so for phones, hooch – alcohol illicitly brewed in the prison – and weapons.”

Safety of prisoners has also been a concern with self-harming ‘common’. The number of self-harm incidents has been consistently higher in 2023-2024 than the previous year, exceeding 100 a month throughout the period.

The board said: “Incidents of self-harm are common and the management of the assessment, care in custody and teamwork process for prisoners at risk of self-harm and suicide requires improvement.

“’Use of force incidents’ are often poorly managed, putting staff and prisoners at risk.”

HMP Five Wells was originally contracted to house 1,680 prisoners, providing rehabilitation and resettlement for those with up to two years left on their sentence.

At the end of March 2024, there were 1,700 prisoners with G4S agreeing to provide 1,715 in 2024. So far twelve cells designed for a single person have been adapted by adding bunk beds to allow doubling up to accommodate the additional prisoners ‘necessitated by prison overcrowding’.

Despite being a resettlement prison, inmates did not have many of the training opportunities promised to them when HMP Five Wells opened at their own centre ‘Weston College’. The education department struggled to appoint staff and the release on temporary licence (ROTL) for outside employment scheme was suspended for most of the year.

The report said: “In February 2024, four men were allowed ROTL with three different employers. Unfortunately, two prisoners returned to the prison with suspected unauthorised items and the third was, apparently, intoxicated.”

In the report the panel addressed the prisons’ minister directly asking for help to recruit more IMB members – at the time of the report only six of the recommended 15 were in place to monitor more than 1,700 inmates.

A spokesman for HMP Five Wells said: “We are really proud of the development of our staff and the work they have done to build a consistent regime. Our staffing levels are steady but recruitment and retention remains an area of focus.

“We have implemented robust governance arrangements around use of force, including a committee which examines every incident and shares learnings with staff.

“As with other prisons, combatting the ingress and use of drugs remains a challenge. We have built strong relationships with the local police and work closely with them to deal with anyone who seeks to break the law.

“Educational and vocational training has improved significantly since our new provider began work in July, with many more places available and a broader range of opportunities on offer.”

Last month dozens of prisoners were released early from HMP Five Wells as part of the government’s policy to ease overcrowding.

One inmate had told the Northants Telegraph the jail was a ‘holiday camp’ another reported he was ‘set up to fail’ in life on the outside.

For the full report go to https://imb.org.uk/news/five-wells-2023-24-annual-report-published/