Rampant drug use and high levels of violence dog Wigan's prison, damning report reveals

So says a blistering report on HMP/YOI Hindley from His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons although he has expressed sympathy for staff and praised policies in the most trying of circumstances.

Routine drug inspections would find more than half of inmates had taken illegal substances at any one time, accommodation is cramped and dirty, with prisoners bored and confined to their cells for too long, all of which led to the institution simply “not being safe enough."

During Charlie Taylor’s visit, he says Hindley – which has almost 600 inmates aged 18 to 25 – was facing serious staffing challenges, with one of the worst officer turnover rates in the country, a high number leaving within their first year.

More than 40 per cent of basic grade officers had less than one year’s experience, and 58 per cent had less than two.

Mr Taylor’s report, published today (March 12) said this very inexperienced cohort was managing a “very challenging population, with a high proportion of prisoners having links to organised crime, high levels of violence and self-harm and more than half of prisoners testing positive for illegal drugs during routine drug testing.

"Perhaps unsurprisingly, inspectors found that staff lacked confidence in challenging poor behaviour.”

Mr Taylor said today: “Hindley is facing an uphill battle: many prisoners arriving at the jail had an existing drug problem, and a large minority had known links to organised crime, so it’s unsurprising that the prison had a near tsunami of drugs.

"The situation was so bad that mandatory drug testing found more than half of prisoners were on drugs at any one time.

"Combined with the indolence, boredom and frustration created by a really poor regime, and some very inexperienced staff, it is no surprise that the prison just wasn’t safe enough.”

Time out of cell was limited and there weren’t enough activity places for the prison population, the report found.

Almost a third of prisoners were unemployed and 28 per cent were in part-time jobs.

Unemployed prisoners typically had less than three hours a day out of their cells.

The prison’s new and recently implemented daily regime was causing prisoner and staff frustration because employed prisoners did not have enough time for domestic activities, association, and gym.

Accommodation at Hindley was described as cramped and a fifth of prisoners lived in overcrowded conditions.

The showers lacked ventilation and common areas were mouldy and dirty.

The prison, built in the 1960s and extended in the 1980s, was showing its age and needed investment, including to upgrade physical security, which would help reduce the influx of drugs.

But its radical re-build and expansion programme, which includes essential improvements, had been delayed until at least 2027.

Mr Taylor said: “Despite our criticism and the obvious strategic challenges, there was no sense of helplessness at the prison.

"Some very good offending behaviour and resettlement work was taking place: the PIPE unit, providing psychological interventions, was impressive, as was the preparedness of leaders to try new ideas and work hard to make improvements.

"Serious investment cannot come soon enough, but in the meantime building staff capability and confronting drugs, as well as diverting prisoners into useful activity that will motivate them, must be the priorities.”

Andrea Coomber KC (Hon), Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “This is a worrying report. Hindley is supposed to be a training prison, helping people to move on from crime and prepare for the future,

but instead we see hundreds of men locked inside their cells while drug use, violence and self-harm are rife.

“Drugs are a destructive force in prisons. The best way to reduce their supply is to reduce the demand for them in the first place and the government’s own Prison Drugs Strategy recognises

that many people use drugs to relieve boredom and to provide temporary respite from depression and anxiety. This prison needs enough staff on duty to get men out of their cells and into exercise, education, work and training.”

And Campbell Robb, chief executive of social justice charity Nacro (National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders), said: “Barely a third of the way into 2024 and we have already seen a series of prison inspection reports testifying to the dire conditions in our prisons.

"This latest report from the Chief Inspectorate on HMP Hindley has exposed more of those same failings, which are worryingly so familiar across a prison system in distress and make it even harder to believe they can act as places where people can get the right support to change their path.

“It’s impossible to imagine someone being able to turn their life around in cramped conditions with far too much time locked up in cell without access to work or education, surrounded by excess violence, and with ineffective relationships with staff as seen at Hindley.

"The Government needs to urgently address the crisis in prisons so they become places of rehabilitation creating a safer society for everyone.”

The damning report of the category C establishment came after HM Inspectorate of Prisons carried out its first full inspection of the jail since 2017 through an unannounced examination in November and December last year.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "We have a zero-tolerance approach to drugs in prison and through our new drug-free units – like the one at HMP Hindley – we are helping the highest-ever proportion of offenders overcome their addiction.

"We are also boosting training for staff to better spot and support those with substance misuse issues while our £100m investment in tough security measures such as X-ray body scanners is stopping more illicit drugs from entering jails in the first place."