Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Long Lartin
Complaint category:
Property
Month investigation completed:
December
Year investigation completed:
2025
A prisoner complained that some of his property had been lost or damaged when he transferred from HMP Long Lartin to HMP Wakefield. There was no evidence that his property had been sealed in his presence prior to the transfer or that the seal numbers of his bags left at HMP Long Lartin had been recorded.
Recommendations/outcome:
The complaint was upheld and IPCI recommended that HMP Long Lartin apologise to the prisoner for the poor handling of his property and offer him compensation for his missing and damaged items. Staff were also reminded of the correct process to follow for recording seal numbers and checking property against the prisoner’s property cards on transfer.
Partially upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Feltham
Complaint category:
Transfers & escorts
Month investigation completed:
December
Year investigation completed:
2025
The prisoner complained about the designation of HMP Wormwood Scrubs as the prison for his progression to the adult estate as he felt he would be under threat. The prison addressed this point adequately, but IPCI had concerns about insufficient Multi-Disciplinary Meetings (MDMs) with respect to the transfer, and over-reliance on the Offender Flows Protocol instead of national policy when making the decision. While IPCI acknowledged ministerial changes caused periods of adjustment for HMP Feltham, they highlighted these potential weak points in process to the Area Executive Director to keep abreast of the situation.
Recommendations/outcome:
No recommendations were made in light of ministerial priorities but we raised the issues with the Area Executive Director.
Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Whatton
Complaint category:
Visits, calls & letters
Month investigation completed:
December
Year investigation completed:
2025
The prisoner complained that the prison lost a legal letter and asked the prison to explain what went wrong. The prison explained that staff should have taken the letter to their Business Hub for processing. They may have completely failed to do so or posted it out without doing so. In any event, the prison accepted that the letter was lost.
Recommendations/outcome:
We found the prison’s complaint response reasonable and did not find it likely that the letter had been stopped or opened and/or read. However, we recommended that the prison apologise for the loss of the letter. We hold the view that this complaint should have been resolved by the prison without reference to IPCI.
Partially upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Onley
Complaint category:
Work, pay & money
Month investigation completed:
December
Year investigation completed:
2025
The prisoner’s complaint concerned the contradictory processes HMP Onley relied on to refuse refunds for prisoners’ canteen refund requests for missing items. HMP Onley were not investigating complaints individually and were providing generic responses, adapting local instructions unfairly so that prisoners were not entitled to refunds in any situation.
Recommendations/outcome:
We made a personal remedy for compensation and recommendations that HMP Onley review their canteen refund processes and issue notices to staff and prisoners to provide clarification to all.
Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Belmarsh
Complaint category:
Property
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2025
The prisoner claimed that an expensive sentimental ring had been lost on a transfer between police custody and HMP Belmarsh. Records showed the ring travelled with him in a sealed valuables bag, however HMP Belmarsh did not record any valuables on arrival.
Recommendations/outcome:
IPCI recommended that the prisoner receive an apology and £150 compensation. We advised HMP Belmarsh to strengthen its processes for handling valuable property. The prison accepted these recommendations.
Partially upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Garth
Complaint category:
Accommodation, food, education & other facilities
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2025
The prisoner complained about his courtesy cell lock being damaged by other prisoners and that there was a delay in this being repaired & CCTV being viewed by the prison to identify who was responsible and take appropriate action to fix this.
Recommendations/outcome:
We partially upheld the complaint on the basis of the unreasonable timeframe it took HMP Garth to repair the courtesy lock. We did not uphold the element of the complaint regarding the checking of CCTV footage to try and establish who was responsible for the damage as this would involve staff reviewing hours/days of CCTV footage which may not prove conclusive.
Upheld complaint against the Director of HMP Bronzefield
Complaint category:
Property
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2025
The prisoner complained that property she asked to be handed out on a visit was not actioned, and she later saw a prisoner wearing one of the items she had asked to be handed out. The prison was unable to locate her property or her written handout form, or account for what had happened to her property.
Recommendations/outcome:
We recommended that the prison agreed a compensation figure with the complainant, and that the process for handing out property on visits is audited and necessary corrective action taken. We also recommended that staff be reminded that an appeal must be answered by someone more senior than the person who replied to the complaint.
Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Gartree
Complaint category:
Categorisation, progression & release preparation
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2025
The prisoner complained that they had been recategorised from category C to category B, however, no further recategorisation took place after the police discontinued their investigation.
Recommendations/outcome:
The discontinuation of the police investigation should have prompted a recategorisation review. HMP Garth agreed to do a recategorisation review following our investigation.
Partially upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Whatton
Complaint category:
Security
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2025
The prisoner complained that he was scanned as part of a cohort when arriving at HMP Whatton.
Recommendations/outcome:
There was insufficient evidence to support the justification for the scan and neither HMP Whatton’s Local Security Strategy and Local Searching Policy met the requirements of national policy in relation to use of the body scanner. HMP Whatton had already agreed to update their policies during another investigation, so no further recommendations were made.
Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Whitemoor
Complaint category:
Property
Month investigation completed:
November
Year investigation completed:
2025
The prisoner complained that his clothing went missing from the laundry at HMP Whitemoor. In response, he was told that he had signed a compact and an induction pack, which stated that prisoners used the wing laundry at their own risk.
We found that the responses from HMP Whitemoor were contrary to mandatory policy requirements. The Prisoners’ Property Framework explicitly uses the prison laundry as an example where the signed disclaimer does not automatically exclude the prison from the responsibility of compensation.
Recommendations/outcome:
IPCI recommended that HMP Whitemoor compensate the prisoner for the missing clothing and that they amend the compact and induction pack so that any reference to “prisoners use the wing laundry at their own risk and were liable for any clothes that may go missing” are removed, as this is contrary to national policy. We also said that HMP Whitemoor should consider implementing a laundry audit process, so that there is a record of laundry handed in and out.
