More On Fire Safety in Prisons

 

The Mid Kent and Medway Coroner has published a troubling inquest report on the 2019 death of Christian Hinkley. Christian died by smoke inhalation when a fire developed in his cell at HMP Swaleside. The report has been sent to Prisons Minister Victoria Atkins because the Coroner thinks that “action should be taken to prevent future deaths” and believes the Ministry of Justice has the power to take such action.

The report found the system of smoke and fire detectors outside the cells in Christian’s houseblock is not designed to save life, is not regarded by the prison service as reliable and does not provide an acceptable permanent standard of fire detection.

Worse, the Crown Premises Fire Safety Inspectorate (CPFSI) issued a Notice in 2015 advising the prison to take action so that fires were detected sufficiently early. Four years later, in April 2019, a further CPFSI inspection led to another such Notice being issued. The Coroner considers “the only effective way to address this problem is to install in-cell automatic fire detectors”.

The Inquest has clearly identified a systemic problem, aspects of which I highlighted earlier in the year. Since then, the Chief Inspector of Crown Premises Fire Safety has published their latest Annual Report. It raises some pressing questions.

First, the report says that CPFSI agreed with Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) in 2015 that an acceptable interim solution to the lack of suitable in cell automatic fire detection would be installing domestic smoke detectors either in the cell or immediately outside and above the cell door. But in the light of the Swaleside inquest this latter option at least may not work well enough. As for in cell detection, the inspector wrote that it has proved to be a major managerial challenge for prison staff to prevent tampering and vandalism to the domestic smoke detectors. What is HMPPS doing to address that problem?

Second, the Coroner wrote that the plan to install in cell automatic fire detection systems in all prisons in England and Wales “is currently in the development stage.”  It may take up to 7 years to complete in 35 prisons across England and Wales -and the Coroner says, “perhaps longer for others.” Is this really a prompt enough response to a system that is inadequate and unsafe and on which the inspector says action is imperative? A prisoner in a cell will die within 8 minutes of ignition of an in-cell fire.

Third, the arrangements (and teeth) for inspection look in need of sharpening up. CPFSI report that in 16 full audits of prisons, two were served with Enforcement Notices, 13 were required to produce an action plan within 28 days and one was found to be satisfactory. Of the 15 prisons which had to respond to formal enforcement action, none received a satisfactory standard by the time of a follow up inspection. Nine had minor deficiencies, five were required to produce an effective action plan and one Enforcement Notice remained in force. Do prisons and HMPPS take the inspections seriously enough?

Finally, it seems poor that the CPFSI should only produce their annual report for 2019-20 in October 2021- 18 months after the end of the reporting year. As far as I know, the report receives no scrutiny from members of Parliament, and receives no response from Government.  

The Chief Inspector’s role on behalf of the Government is to ensure that people are safe from fire in Crown Premises in England. Since custodial premises are by far the highest risk from fire “given the nature of the institutions and their occupants”, I’d like to see the Home Affairs Select Committee  (who are responsible for the Inspectorate) and the Justice Committee hold a short inquiry into fire safety in prisons and other places of detention.  

In the meantime, Ms Atkins has until the end of the year to respond to the Coroner and in particular his idea that, pending the long-term work to improve fire detection, detectors could be installed as a priority in a small number of “fire safer cells” on each wing of each prison so that prisoners at high risk of setting fires can be placed in them. Ms Atkins will have to say whether using such cells is practicable given overcrowding pressures and if equipping them in this way is cost effective. 

While these may seem technical questions, they deserve much more attention than they have hitherto received.

 

Ten Things We Learned about Youth Custody

 

New Prison Minister Victoria Atkins gave evidence to the Justice Committee about the two privately run Secure Training Centres (STCs), Rainsbrook and Oakhill, both of which have been subject to Urgent Notifications by Inspectors to the Justice Secretary in recent months. Ofsted and the Prisons Inspectorate have had significant concerns about the treatment and conditions of the children detained there producing reports that were in the words of Committee Chair Bob Neill “utterly dire.” Ms Atkins was flanked by the Head of the Youth Custody Service (YCS), who oversees the STCs and the Head of the Prison service, who oversees the YCS. So what did we find out?

1 Rainsbrook STC has closed down, but whether temporarily or permanently isn’t clear. Negotiations with the provider MTC are nearing conclusion so we’ll presumably find out soon if it will re-open and if so under whose management.

2. In the meantime 84 staff from MTC have been transferred to help Home Office with immigration contracts working in an unspecified “open service”. This saves the MoJ £200,000 a month from the bill they are paying for an empty facility.

3. Up to 5 girls were moved from Rainsbrook to the Keppel unit at Wetherby Young Offender Institution in the summer. This was hitherto an all-male establishment. Committee member, ex Prisons Minister Maria Eagle was particularly concerned about a fundamental policy shift but was told it’s a temporary measure. Longer term plans will be set out in a YCS strategy on girls next year.

4. As for Oakhill, there are 32 boys there and they are still taking admissions. The operational capacity has been reduced from 80 to 40 and will remain until a follow up Ofsted inspection takes place.

5. The MoJ have issued 4 “rectification notices” since March and have been concerned about problems at Oakhill since January. The MoJ asked Ofsted to visit in September. Ms Atkins hauled in the MD of G4S within two days of taking up her post and visited Oakhill last week.

6. The pledge in the Action Plan that “a full refurbishment plan for Oakhill STC will be developed by the end of December 2021 and work will commence thereafter” appears exaggerated. “Sprucing up” was the term used by Committee member Rob Butler.

7. It’s not clear who is paying for these refurbishment works. The PFI/ SPV (Private Finance Initiative Special Purpose Vehicle) pays for it said the Head of YCS. So no extra money from the MoJ said Mr Butler. I can’t remember what those initials stand for said the Minister, referring to the SPV. “Goodness knows what it does frankly”. She is not a fan of the contracts for either of the STCs.

8. Ms Atkins and her boss, who she always referred to as the Deputy Prime Minister, are looking at all aspects of the MoJ’s work including the viability of Secure Training Centres. As part of their review, they are considering "all contractual options" which seems to be code for pulling the plug on a PFI contract with 8 years to run. But do they want a big bill and a falling out with G4S who are due to open a big new prison in February?

9. Enabling work to re-convert the old Medway STC into a suitable building for the new Secure School seems only just to have got underway. Delays are due to Ofsted’s exacting design standards- including that  no stairs are allowed. But no one asked how likely the Medway Secure School is to open next September.

10. Ms Atkins told the MPs that at Oakhill she met four young men facing very long sentences for serious crimes. One asked her “Will you remember us?” She described their crimes as being a tragedy for the victims and their loved ones. But also for the young men faced with spending all their twenties behind bars. The task is to give them hope, she said. Perhaps that should give us some.

Postscript: The Justice Committee has now published a letter from Ms Atkins dated 16 November confirming much of the above.