Inspectors’ critical new report on Forest Bank despite improvement notice

Inspectors have delivered a damning report on a Salford prison run by a private company. They say HMP Forest Bank is “unable to fulfil its role successfully”.

Education provision at the Agecroft jail is “inadequate” and prisoners are locked in their cells most of the day with limited access to the gym and library. The Chief Inspector of Prisons, says despite this “leaders show limited ambition to improve the situation”. Prison staff, the report says, are “disillusioned” and officer retention rates poor.

The report, published today, is a major setback for the management of the prison. In January the Manchester Evening News reported Sodexo, the company which runs it was to keep the contract for now after beefing up security and carrying out a major refurbishment.

This followed the issuing of a 45-day improvement notice by the government in August. The “significant concerns and rectification notice” was slapped on the jail by the Ministry of Justice. The prison is operated by Sodexo Justice Services and if progress had been not made, the company could have lost the contract which is scheduled to run until 2025.

But an unannounced inspection in February discovered a raft of issues still persist including high levels of violent incidents. However, management insist they are “making steady progress.”

In a statement HM Inspectorate of Prisons said: “Inspectors to HMP Forest Bank, the only reception and resettlement prison in the Greater Manchester area, found a prison unable to fulfil its role successfully. The prison held 1,354 prisoners, nearly 300 above its baseline capacity, and as a consequence, prisoners were often diverted to other establishments on arrival, undermining the core focus of the jail.”

“Ofsted rated education provision as ‘inadequate’ the lowest possible grading. Leaders were not identifying key weaknesses in teaching and training, and there was an overall lack of planning which left prisoners unable to learn useful skills while in custody.”

Inspectors found those who had additional needs were not sufficiently supported. They found provision of purposeful activity to be severely lacking, judging it ‘poor’. Prisoners were locked in their cells for most of the day with limited or no access to the gym or library.

The report says: “The prison has three primary purposes: to receive those recently remanded to custody and hold them until their court appearances are concluded; to hold those who are serving fairly short prison sentences; and to hold those requiring resettlement support as their release date approaches. Convicted men with time to serve would be expected to be allocated to training establishments elsewhere.

As an approach, the model has some merit. The evidence, however, would seem to suggest the prison was struggling to make it work, primarily because there was simply not enough space to be sure all new prisoners (about 300 a month) could be accommodated.”

The report says Leaders had not addressed the shortages of officers “which was continuing to have a detrimental impact on outcomes such as poor time out of cell and limited supervision of prisoners.”

Managers had promised to provide three officers in each unit to improve supervision and control “but in reality, this had been difficult to achieve. ” It adds: “For example, in the last couple of months units were understaffed most days. Officer retention rates were poor, with 25% of those in post at the time of the inspection having had less than one year’s experience. Many officers we spoke to told us they were disillusioned and felt their well- being was being overlooked.”

Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons, said: “Leaders showed limited ambition to improve this situation,” adding: “It was clear to us that the prison needed to re-think both what constituted a useful and meaningful regime and how they approached supporting resettlement for a largely transient population.”

Some improvements had been made to safety, but inspectors identified some concerns. Despite a 25% reduction, Forest Bank remained the fourth most violent prison in the country. Violent incidents were investigated appropriately and the challenge, support, and intervention plan (CSIP) was embedded effectively to deal with perpetrators, but the adjudications process was overwhelmed by the number of cases, leaving some violent offenders unpunished.

Mr Taylor says in the report: “Forest Bank is a prison in transition. says We were told repeatedly that had we visited some months before, we would have found a prison in real difficulties. The prison was still dealing with some significant weaknesses; however, our findings were encouraging.”

In a statement issued in January the Ministry Of Justice said: “Forest Bank’s rectification notice was lifted in December after significant improvement. “A major refurbishment project has been completed, security has been tightened with new windows and netting and an ambitious recruitment plan has been launched.”

Security improvements include the replacement of hundreds of windows, new netting in exercise yards, and closer work with Greater Manchester Police. It was said at the time that a major refurbishment programme had seen improvements to the wings and rehabilitation workshops reopen. Efforts were being made to improve staff retention and recruit more through a new campaign.

But the MOJ said it would continue to “monitor performance through routine contract management arrangements.” The action by the MOJ came after it sent officers in to inspect the prison which has been hit by a series of scandals and internal investigations in recent years.

It also saw the boss of the prison quit last summer. Director, Matt Spencer, stepped down and was replaced by Ian Whiteside, who had been Director of HMP Bronzefield in Ashton, Surrey, as an interim boss.

An HMP Forest Bank spokesperson said: “We welcome this report and acknowledge that HMP Forest Bank has come through a difficult period over the last couple of years, with the operation of the prison significantly impacted by the pandemic, a challenging population, and by a competitive local employment market.

“We have worked very closely with the Prison Service to address matters which require improvement, and we continue to make steady progress with significant investment and additional support. We are pleased that the inspectors noted that decisive action had been taken and that there had been a noticeable recent improvement. We look forward to maintaining positive momentum, delivering on the agreed action plan arising from the report.”

In 2019 drugs were found at the prison 654 times – the third highest number in the UK’s prison system for such seizures. There was also concern the about the standard of maintenance of the building, the Manchester Evening News understands.

The prison opened in 2000 and accepted its first inmates in January that year. A riot broke out in July, one week after its official opening. Since then it has had a chequered history

In January this year three men were jailed for carrying out an attack of “retribution” on two prison officers as they left work at the prison. As the two officers finished their shift at the prison they walked across the car park separately before being subjected to the terrifying assault. One was attacked with a baseball bat and the other had to jump clear when a car was driven at him.

In July last year it was revealed that flaming packages, suspected of being filled with contraband, were hurled over walls in a bid to by-pass prison security. In June 2021 the Manchester Evening News reported an investigation had been launched following claims a booklet listing which prisoners are inside for sex offences got into the hands of an inmate at the jail.

In February last year two prison officers who stole thousands of pounds worth electronics from Forest Bank and sold them on were jailed. Two other members of staff, one who had worked as a security manager and anti-corruption boss at the jail and another who was a security analyst had been previously locked up for their role in the thefts.

In April 2021 mobile phones, steroids, sim cards and electric contraband were found during a police operation targeting the cells of senior gang members at Forest Bank. Tobacco, cigarette papers, cannabis, Spice-lined paper, lighters and screwdrivers were also discovered.

Cells were searched at 4am by prison officers working off intelligence from Greater Manchester Police on those at the top of organised crime groups.. Operation Dragonfire was launched after a spike in the number of phone ‘throw overs’, where mobile phones are thrown over the prison walls of the jail.

In January 2021, a prison officer who brought paper laced with the drug spice into Forest Bank was locked up. He also brought “a large amount of tobacco” into the prison and had received £50,000 in unexplained deposits into his account.

In November 2020 masked men on a motorcycle were filmed as they torched a vehicle outside Forest Bank. In 2019, a prison officer whose car was petrol bombed at the prison lost his job after it emerged the vehicle was neither taxed or insured.