'overcrowded' prison with 'significant' number of 'bored sex offenders inspected

A prison inspector report has said there has been some improvement at HMP Hull since their last inspection. HMP Hull is a large prison, and, according to the report, it holds a

"significant" amount of prisoners convicted or charged with sexual offences. The HM Inspectorate of Prisons visited the site in mid-April this year after previously raising some

concerns about the prison. During the last inspection, the inspectors pointed out that 40 per cent of prisoners said it was easy to access drugs in the prison, and that leadership was not

doing enough to reduce violence or self-harm, although overall levels of violence remained low. In addition, the prison regime was referred to as "poor", with many prisoners

"locked up for over 22 hours a day". The report said: "Even when they were unlocked, they were bored as they had little access to any on-wing activities. Prisoners’ attendance

at education was also poor and many workshops were closed. Too many prisoners were released into the community with no home to go to." In the review visit, inspectors did find the

prison had taken their concerns seriously, and that a senior team was working on improving outcomes. There was some criticism though, as the report said self-harm was on the rise in the

prison, despite the fact that leaders were making "better use" of data. Prisoners were spending more times out of their cells, but the availability of drugs was still a cause for

concern. The report said: "The availability of illicit drugs remained a significant concern, but leaders had made reasonable progress in improving the use of intelligence and data to

inform a drug strategy that focused on recovery. Good support and positive cultures on the recovery wing and incentivised substance-free living unit (ISFL) were motivating prisoners to

engage and progress through their sentence. "Despite the efforts of local leaders to mitigate the experience of prisoners having to share cramped cells, the prison remained overcrowded.

Similarly, some good work to improve housing outcomes when prisoners returned to the community was not yet reducing the numbers being released homeless. "Leaders were committed to

driving improvement at Hull and this independent review of progress indicated that their hard work was paying off in many important areas." The report specified three particular points

of "positive practice" at HMP Hull. This included the fact that a staff member had been allocated to identify and circumvent drone activity, the introduction of a frequent testing

programme and proactive efforts to upskill staff. Inspectors were still concerned about the use of illicit drugs, which was on the rise, the fact that leaders did not use data to drive

improvements in reducing violence and self-harm, and the overcrowding of the prison, with two-thirds of prisoners living in cells originally built for one. Prisoners still did not spend

enough time outside of their cells, with little progress made since 2021 to improve this. _GET ALL THE LATEST AND BREAKING NEWS IN YORKSHIRE BY __SIGNING UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER HERE._ GET

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