Report for year end 31 July 2003

Bullwood Hall remains a closed training prison and Young Offender Institution for women and girls and is located near Southend on Sea, Essex.

POPULATION AND REGIME

The CNA is 180 with an operational capacity of 184. Prisoners are housed in 176 single cells with 4 cells doubled up.

The population continues to be made up of adults, young offenders and juveniles.

The average population throughout the year has been 159.

Bullwood Hall has admitted 448 new inmates during the year. A full induction programme is now in place with all new young offenders being placed on B wing upon entering the prison for a period up to 14 days. Juveniles and adult lifers are inducted on their respective wings.

All adults are lifers.

Approximately one third of the population are minority ethnic.

Average total activity hours, per prisoner, is around 65 hours per week.

There were 571 request and complaints from inmates, an increase of 143 over the previous year, of which 1 was addressed to the Area Manager, 20 to other prisons and 7 to the IMB. It is true to say that prisoners are encouraged to complain, should the need arise, and as the following figures show, it is pleasing to note that the vast majority were responded to within 7 days.

Complaints were made relating to a wide variety of issues and we were not able to discern any particular pattern that required further monitoring or comment.

There were 871 adjudications (20 adult and 851 Yo/juvenile). An increase on last years’ figure of 711, (104 adult and 607 Yo/juvenile). The increase may well reflect the younger population having difficulties coming to terms with the prison regime.

Juveniles

Bullwood Hall is one of four establishments in the women’s estate to house juveniles (15 – 18 yrs). Current funding through the Youth Justice Board remains for 28 places, housed on their own wing.

Separate regimes are provided for juveniles and these have been consolidated throughout the year. The arrival of Mr Garner, a new Manager F Grade specifically for the juvenile population, is proof of the commitment to ensure that Bullwood Hall remains a model for looking after females of this age group.

It is proposed that Bullwood Hall will be taking juveniles on remand next year.

PREMISES, GROUNDS AND WORKS

The overall size of the prison within the perimeter fence has not changed.

The grounds and gardens are continually worked on by a supervisor and inmate teams and the garden areas remain well stocked and attractive.

Works carried out during the year include:
1 A wing windows
2 Demolish garages and form new car parking area.
3 Street lighting
4 Repairs to segregation roof
5 Alterations to healthcare for Mental Health In Reach Team
6 Closed visits area
7 Swimming pool cover
8 Asbestos removal under gym stage
9 Staff rest rooms
10 Visits – Children’s play area
11 Fire Alarm
12 Education refurbishment commencement

STAFFING

Despite assurances given by the Minister and the Area Manager, Bullwood Hall has operated throughout the year with between 12 and 15 uniformed officers short of “target in post”
The Contracted Supplementary Hours scheme is still in place; however it is inevitable that operational procedures and regimes suffer and we also believe that staff have, and will suffer, from additional stress and loss of morale.

A new Head of Personnel and Training has been appointed. He has started publishing a monthly personnel bulletin for Bullwood Hall with information on vacancies and internal training etc.

Despite the problem of staff shortages, we feel that there is a very positive relationship between management and staff that translates into a very caring atmosphere within the prison. (Officer Pat Fitzgerald deserves special mention for the 2003 Butler Trust Award for Excellence).

EDUCATION AND ACTIVITIES

The education programme is currently delivered by the City College of Norwich overseen by a prison service Manager.

Staffing

The staffing situation within the Education Department has improved over the year. A number of staff have left through retirement or for career purposes, but there has been a strong recruitment drive throughout the year. This has resulted in the appointment of new Learning Support Assistants and a SENCO, 2 part time tutors, a teamleader, a full time literacy and numeracy co-ordinator for the juveniles, and a NVQ co-ordinator, whose work covers other areas of the prison regime and work parties. The prison has received centre status for the gymnasium and catering since the arrival of the NVQ co-ordinator. Most of the new staff are in post and have settled in well.

Refurbishment

The refurbishment of the education block, which was flagged in last year’s report, has not progressed as quickly as expected but is now due to be completed in the first quarter of 2004. This will be a major boost to the provision of education services in the prison.

The outdoor swimming pool has finally been covered and is now being used regularly by inmates. We are informed that lighting and heating will be added later this year to ensure its use during colder periods.

IT Equipment

The prison has been very fortunate in receiving funding from OLSU for new IT equipment and this is mostly now in place and is being used daily. This has been a big boost for the students and teaching staff as all now have access to IT for studying and lesson preparation.

Involvement in prison and external initiatives

The education department has continued to work closely with groups both within the prison and external agencies. Internally, successful health, multi-cultural and disability days have been held throughout the year and the art department has held competitions for the painting of murals around the prison. External initiatives have included participation in/with the Connections Literacy Project (funded by writers in prison), Dance United, the Irene Taylor Trust, Clean Break and the Peoples Palace project.

Achievements

Educational achievements so far this year have been good, with the following accreditations gained:

Inmates are encouraged to enter for the Koestler Prison Art Awards. In the last year Bullwood inmates have received a Koestler Award in Art and Needlework.
Inmates have also gained 1 gold and 6 silver Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

The Garment Workshop provides practical training and experience for the mass production of clothes on industrial machines, and currently makes boxer shorts for the male prison population as well as items for charities and the third world. Fridays are set aside for individual garment design.

The library is stocked by Essex County Council with a part time librarian, part time assistant and 2 prisoner part time assistants.

HEALTHCARE

There have been a number of changes to the healthcare arrangements in the past year and more are planned for the year ahead. An extension of the Mental Health in Reach team in the prison resulted in the number of beds in the healthcare centre being reduced to three from six, but this has not had a material effect on the provision of healthcare services. The healthcare unit is manned 24hrs with a doctor visiting daily and on-call for emergencies.

The new Mental Health in Reach Centre was opened by HRH The Princess Royal in April.

In addition to the doctor, the following visits were undertaken by specialists in the course of the past year:

There were 151 inmate referrals and 6 admissions to Southend hospital.

It is important to note that Bullwood has been chosen to be in the first wave of the new funding arrangements for prison healthcare provision commencing from April 2004. This will result in the NHS assuming responsibility for the commissioning of the prison healthcare system. The IMB will monitor carefully the impact that this transfer will have on healthcare provision within Bullwood.

A new venture for Bullwood has been the provision of detoxification treatment for inmates. This has been a success and has allowed other prisons in the female estate, notably Holloway, to transfer newly sentenced prisoners immediately rather than having to wait until their detoxification programmes have been completed. The likelihood of Bullwood taking on remand juveniles in the year ahead may increase the demand for this service but existing resources are thought to be sufficient to manage this expected demand.

The Drug Rehabilitation Unit in Bullwood is unique and warrants a specific comment. It is the only rehabilitation unit within the female estate which offers a cognitive behavioural programme addressing substance misuse to juveniles. The programme also takes Yo’s. In addition to inmates from Bullwood, the unit also takes referrals from other prisons who return when their programme has been completed.

Psychometric test results demonstrate that successfully completing the course will put the inmate in a better position to withstand further substance misuse. The programme
is relatively short (2-3 weeks pre-admission stage and 6-8 weeks core programme) to allow for maximum throughput for those who wish to attend the programme. The length of the core programme has been adapted (originally 12 weeks) to accommodate as many as possible of those with short sentences. This has resulted in an increase in the number of juveniles attending the programme.

Working with younger inmates brings its own challenges, not least of which is their readiness to deal with the substance misuse problem, but it is pleasing to note that the unit has seen the first juveniles successfully complete the course in the past year. The value of the work undertaken by the team is undoubted but the course is only a small part of the overall package of rehabilitation, not all of which is currently in place. Effective resettlement is a crucial part of ensuring success for those inmates who have embarked on the long road to recovery.

THROUGHCARE, PROBATION

This department links probation, psychology, sentence planning and sentence management and co-ordinates all the courses available for inmates during their stay in prison in preparation for their release.

A thorough review of resettlement has taken place to focus on this particular important area of a prisoner’s future, resulting in a new resettlement policy and an appointed resettlement Manager.

Programmes include Enhanced Thinking Skills, relapse prevention, drug awareness, alcohol awareness, violent offender and anger control (Geese Theatre), women in relationships, offending behaviour, anger management, drug importers, counselling, psychotherapy, sexual violence counselling and voluntary drug testing.

The department is also involved with self harm reduction, parole reports, lifer reports and liaison with community based agencies to assist with resettlement, accommodation and employment.

The CARAT team continue to provide valuable support by way of both one to one counselling and group work for those prisoners who have a desire to free themselves from substance abuse. The drub rehabilitation unit offers a sixteen week course which, unfortunately, precludes any prisoner on a short sentence. The practicalities of a shorter course is being looked into.

SUICIDE AND SELF HARM

It is very sad to report the suicide of 1 prisoner in February of this year. She was a young offender who had not long arrived at Bullwood. On the particular day of her suicide as well as the normal staff input, she had been seen by the Doctor and a member of the IMB and appeared settled. She did not have a 2052SH file open and no particular risk had been identified. The inquest into her death will take place later this year.

There were 534 other incidents of self harm during the year, an increase of 168 on the previous year. 159 were considered serious of which 11 were life threatening.

These figures are concerning, however, it needs to be borne in mind that a number of prolific self-harmers are transferred to Bullwood Hall to join the DBT programme.

The most common of the serious incidents involved a ligature or overdose. We are concerned about the proposal to allow risk assessed prisoners to have a months supply of their prescribed medicine at one time to keep in their cell.

Half the incidents were amongst lifers and 2 prisoners recorded over 50 incidents each.

A listener scheme operates in the prison for lifers and young offenders and the 5 listeners are trained and supported by the Samaritans. Most of the listeners are lifers.

The multidisciplinary suicide prevention team meet bi-monthly under the chairmanship of the Deputy Governor where the figures are scrutinised. Particular attention is paid to the monitoring of 2052SH files, which has resulted in increased training for officers, and to working on developing a suicide and self harm policy for the prison.

RACE RELATIONS

The Race Relations Management Team is a multi-disciplinary group that meets bi-monthly under the chairmanship of the Governor. At least one member of the IMB is present at each meeting.

A new Race Relations Liaison Officer was appointed during the year and has made an excellent start in undertaking the responsibilities of this important role.

Staff training on diversity issues has been provided on a regular basis and diversity training is an integral part of the induction programme given to all new prisoners.

There were 69 racist incident reporting forms logged during the year, and all were dealt with locally

The use by prisoners of inappropriate racial language continues to be an issue and there is an ongoing need to regularly remind prisoners that such behaviour will not be tolerated anywhere within the establishment.

KITCHEN

The civilian Catering Manager, together with his three staff, are supported by a team of up to sixteen prisoners in the provision of a varied menu of well cooked food. A choice of hot meals is available at both mid-day and tea time with a salad option for lunch and a sandwich alternative in the summer months. Diets for both medical and religious reasons are accommodated and there is regular consultation with the prisoners upon preferences, subject to budgetary and healthy eating considerations.

High standards of cleanliness are maintained in both the kitchen and dining areas and the escort of prisoners to and from the wings is efficiently managed by staff.

We are pleased to report that prisoners can now obtain NVQs in Health & Safety and Catering that may assist their chances of employment upon release.

SEGREGATION

The unit consists of 6 furnished and 2 unfurnished cells. It is planned to refurbish later in the year.

The “traffic light system” introduced last year is working well and liked by staff and prisoners. The system indicates the status of each prisoner - red for the most badly behaved, amber for badly behaved and green for better behaved inmates.

There are several officers with great experience in the segregation unit, but, due to staff shortages, it is often manned by staff with limited segregation experience.

CHAPLAINCY

The past year has included the usual events associated with the Christian year: the Christmas Carol concert, led by the choir with Revd Susan Sayers, and the Easter celebrations were both well attended.

It is the day to day ministry that provides the foundation for the work of the Chaplaincy team. This year we said goodbye to Revd Janet Allwright after seven years at Bullwood Hall. During this time her organisational skills helped to form a disciplined and effective service and we would like to record our thanks.

Each Sunday a different denomination leads worship including one broadly Anglican Service, one Preaching Service by a Free Church Minister, Vineyard and Outreach. A Catholic Mass is delivered on Saturday. All new prisoners are seen as soon as possible by a member of the team. There are also Alpha courses, Muslim classes, Jehovah’s Witness Bible study as well as pastoral visiting from many multi-faith groups. The Chaplaincy also assist and attend special events during the year as well as meetings pertaining to prisoners’ welfare.

The Governor has recognised the good work carried out during a difficult year due to staff shortages and has presented the team with a plaque in appreciation.

A new Chaplain, the Revd Weekes, is due to join later in the year.

VISITS

Visits take place in a separate visits centre between 2.15 and 4.15 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

Inmates are allowed 4 visits per month with enhanced inmates allowed an extra visit per month.

There are also visits for children once a month on a Saturday from 10am to 4pm.

Family days are also arranged for each wing.

The total number of domestic visitors for the reporting year was 2482 (approx 47 per week).

The new children’s play area outside visits is a project funded by The Princes Trust. An officer, 4 adults and 11 young offenders put together a plan to improve the area and have created, by hard work and determination, an area that is colourful and user- friendly for prisoners and children on family visits. This work gained a Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.

WORK OF THE BOARD

The board had twelve members at the start of the reporting year. Two members (Mrs Crampin and Mrs Joughin) resigned after long service on the Board and we would like to record our appreciation of their work.

As well as members carrying out their rota duties and attending most of the events throughout the year, they also attended race relations meetings, suicide awareness meetings, lifer review panels and accompanied Brent Magistrates on their training visits to Bullwood.

Members also attended the Annual Conference in September and the Area Manager’s meetings at Newbold Revel in October and March.

We were pleased to receive visits from IMB members from Cookham Wood, East Sutton Park and Holloway.

We have arranged to visit Holloway, Warren Hill, Cookham Wood and East Sutton Park later in the year.

Members have continued training this year on;
a) New Members Courses
b) Experienced Members Courses
c) Child Protection Awareness Course

CONCLUSION

This year has seen a consolidation of all the good practices put in place in the last reporting year and the integration of the juveniles.

The increases in self harm, complaints and adjudications are referred to in the main body of the report.

Our main concern, however, is the continual shortage of uniformed staff and what seems to be the acceptance of the prison service to get by for as long as possible with the staff in place. Our longer serving members cannot recall when Bullwood Hall had a full compliment of staff. It would be a great shame to let all the positive efforts by the Governor and his team, who have transformed Bullwood in the last 3 years, to be let down for the lack of normal staffing levels.

We would like again, to congratulate Governor Hassall and all the staff, officers and agencies here, who have worked very hard, despite the staff shortages, to help the prison to be No 1 in the Women’s Estate in the Overall Performance Measure.

For and on behalf of the Board

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