Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Dartmoor
Complaint category:
Staff behaviour
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2024
A prisoner complained that he was assaulted by other prisoners at HMP Dartmoor. He complained that this assault had been caused by staff, and that the prison had not investigated his complaint about this matter.
The IPCI investigation found that whilst HMP Dartmoor had acted in accordance with policy regarding the allegation of assault, we were unable to find any evidence that his complaint about staff was investigated, despite being assured by a Governor that an investigation would take place.
Recommendations/outcome:
IPCI recommended that HMP Dartmoor apologise to the prisoner for failure to investigate his complaint about prison staff, in accordance with the requirements of Prisoner Complaints Policy Framework.
Partially upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Long Lartin
Complaint category:
Staff behaviour
Month investigation completed:
November
A prisoner complained that an officer sexually assaulted him while conducting a rubdown search, and that the search was not carried out in accordance with the relevant policy.
Recommendations/outcome:
Whilst the IPCI investigation did not find any evidence that the prisoner had been sexually assaulted. We found that the search did not comply with the policy. The officer involved had been advised of the correct procedure to follow.
Partially upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Stocken
Complaint category:
Property
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2024
A prisoner complained about being refused permission to have a clothing parcel sent to HMP Stocken. Staff eventually authorised a ‘limited’ clothing parcel in July 2024.
Recommendations/outcome:
The IPCI investigation found that the prison should have considered allowing parcels under exceptional circumstances prior to this. IPCI also found that the prison should have put in place a process to allow the management of incoming parcels, with any found to have contaminated items being returned to the sender.
Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Wakefield
Complaint category:
Visits, calls & letters
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2024
A prisoner complained that there were delays to him receiving his mail after it had been checked by the censors, and that he sometimes did not receive his mail.
Recommendations/outcome:
Following our investigation, we asked that the Governor audits HMP Wakefield’s internal policy for the handling of prisoners’ mail and satisfies herself that prisoners are receiving their recorded delivery mail (unless there is a reason why the mail cannot be issued), and that the progress of recorded delivery mail through the prison up to and including it being signed for the prisoner is recorded and logged.
Upheld complaint against the Director of HMP Peterborough
Complaint category:
Work, pay & money
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2024
A prisoner complained that money he had arrived with at HMP Peterborough (and that was handed to Finance) was incorrectly recorded. This resulted in him being provided with a significantly lesser amount when he transferred to his next prison.
During our investigation we found that an incorrect prison number was used on his paperwork on arrival, and the correct amount of money was given incorrectly to another prisoner.
Recommendations/outcome:
The error was corrected, and the full amount was paid into the prisoner’s private cash account.
Partially upheld complaint against the Director of HMP Thameside
Complaint category:
Visits, calls & letters
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2024
A prisoner complained about his fiancée being refused a visit because HMP Thameside said that she did not comply with their dress code. He said that he wanted a replacement visit, an apology, and compensation for her travel costs. Our investigation found that whilst HMP Thameside had carried out their own internal investigation and upheld his complaint, they had only addressed the visit aspect of his complaint.
Recommendations/outcome:
We flagged this omission with the prison but made no recommendations as the prisoner had been subsequently released.
Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Long Lartin
Complaint category:
Work, pay & money
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2024
A prisoner complained that some of his canteen items were missing from an order in June 2024. In August, Long Lartin provided an interim complaint appeal response, but the prisoner was still awaiting a reply two months later.
Recommendations/outcome:
By the time the IPCI investigation was completed, Long Lartin had processed the refund for the prisoner. We wrote to the Governor to highlight our concerns regarding the significant delay in processing the refund and the lack of a final response to the prisoner’s complaint appeal.
Partially upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Brixton
Complaint category:
Property
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2024
A prisoner complained that upon arrival at prison, his DVDs were retained in reception and subsequently went missing. Our investigation established there were no property cards available, and no audit trail to demonstrate that the items he purchased at HMP Chelmsford and previously possessed in custody, had been lost in his possession.
Recommendations/outcome:
We recommended Brixton pay £216.10 compensation to replace the missing DVDs.
Partially upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Isle of Wight
Complaint category:
Staff behaviour
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2024
A prisoner complained about the conduct of a member of staff. Our investigation concluded that the actions of the member of staff was unreasonable but we recognised that the prison had already reviewed the matter and acted upon the review findings.
Recommendations/outcome:
We partially upheld the complaint on the basis that the prisoner was not allowed to complain through the confidential access (comp2 channel). Although the recipients can decide whether the matter is appropriate for a comp2, they cannot refuse to answer entirely and, in such cases, should respond as a comp1.
Partially upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Wetherby
Complaint category:
Staff behaviour
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2024
A young person complained they had been inappropriately restrained. Our IPCI investigation found the restraint used was reasonable, as this was a planned intervention. However, we were concerned that more could have been done to de-escalate the situation and avoid using force. We were also critical of the lack of a post incident debrief, and poor handheld camera positioning.
Recommendations/outcome:
We made several specific recommendations focussing on the lack of de-escalation and asked that staff should work with ORRU to audit and review their assurances processes around reviewing MMPR.
