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Complaint investigation summaries

Read summaries of upheld and partially upheld investigations into complaints on this page. We keep information brief to protect the identities of people involved and we may decide not to publish a summary if the person making the complaint might be identified from it. Please visit our archive site to view complaint summaries published before February 2024.

Every month we publish statistics about the number of investigations we have completed and our decision for each one.

Use the search box below to search complaints by prison name or location.

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171 complaints summaries

Partially upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Styal

Complaint category:
Staff behaviour
Status:
Partially upheld
Month investigation completed:
August
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained about a use of force incident which she believed was unnecessary and disproportionate, and that after which she did not receive timely access to medical treatment. She also complained about the prisons investigation into this matter and not being provided with relevant paperwork relating to the incident. Whilst the IPCI investigation did not find evidence to support her claims about an inappropriate use of force or lack of access to medical care. We did find gaps in the paperwork which omitted to detail why pain inducing techniques were used and we found that the prisoner had not been provided with the paperwork requested.
Recommendations/outcome:
We highlighted the shortcomings of the investigation to the prison including delays in providing the BWVC footage and other evidence to us, failure to reference pain inducement in the UoF paperwork, and failure to respond to requests for evidence from prisoners representatives.

Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Send

Complaint category:
Staff behaviour
Status:
Upheld
Month investigation completed:
August
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that she had not been able to see her father before he passed away. The prison acknowledged during the complaint investigation that there had been communication issues which meant the prisoner’s request for ROTL was not processed in a timely manner.
Recommendations/outcome:
No formal recommendations required as the prison had already introduced new processes and apologised to the prisoner.

Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Lindholme

Complaint category:
Property
Status:
Upheld
Month investigation completed:
August
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained about the amount of compensation offered for property lost when staff in HMP Lindholme cleared his cell.
Recommendations/outcome:
Following the IPCI investigation, we asked the prison to pay the prisoner £847 compensation for the lost property. We asked the Governor to remind staff of the guidance in national policy when answering complaints and dealing with complaints about lost or damaged property, and to conduct cell clearances in line with the national policy using the approved cell clearance certificate (F2056J). Finally, we asked that staff be remind staff to respond to request for information from IPCI.

Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Lindholme

Complaint category:
Administration
Status:
Upheld
Month investigation completed:
August
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained about the refusal of staff in HMP Lindholme to disclose body worn video camera footage to him following an incident in April 2024.
Recommendations/outcome:
We asked the Governor to remind staff of the need to address issues raised when answering complaint and appeal forms. Also to remind staff of the national policy in respect of dealing with requests for the disclosure of camera footage. We asked that the prison facilitate the prisoner’s request for disclosure of the footage of the incident.

Partially Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Parc

Complaint category:
Security
Status:
Partially upheld
Month investigation completed:
August
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained he was placed on ‘no 1 to 1 contact with staff' restriction and wasn’t informed of this. He claimed he only found out about this when he transferred to HMP Full Sutton. The IPCI investigation established that while at Parc his behaviour warranted the restriction, and it was a decision staff were entitled to make. However, this should have been communicated to him and there was no evidence that it had been.
Recommendations/outcome:
We partially upheld the complaint on the basis the initial decision was not communicated to him, and we flagged this to the Governor of Parc.

Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Whatton

Complaint category:
Property
Status:
Upheld
Month investigation completed:
July
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that he was not allowed access to a laptop. Our investigation established that initially there had been a security marker placed on his notes to indicate this was not allowed, but this was applied in error. After a lengthy period, the prison agreed to remove this, apologise for the error and placed him on a waiting list for a laptop.
Recommendations/outcome:
The prison took the required remedial action. We feel this complaint could have been resolved without referral to IPCI

Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Onley

Complaint category:
Property
Status:
Upheld
Month investigation completed:
July
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that a number of items of property went missing on transfer from HMP Onley. The IPCI investigation established that there was a clear failure in properly maintaining accurate records of his property.
Recommendations/outcome:
We attempted to mediate a settlement which would have brought a swifter resolution, but instead had to write a lengthy report where we recommended financial compensation of £165. We feel this complaint could have been resolved without referral to IPCI.

Partially Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Buckley

Complaint category:
Work, pay & money
Status:
Partially upheld
Month investigation completed:
July
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained he was allocated to unsuitable work conditions and staff did not take account of his health conditions. During the IPCI investigation it became apparent that he was able to work, but that clearer guidance on what reasonable adjustments might be necessary were not recorded.
Recommendations/outcome:
We asked that staff put into place reasonable adjustments to ensure work allocation was appropriate. We feel this complaint could have been resolved without referral to IPCI.

Partially Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Risley

Complaint category:
Staff behaviour
Status:
Partially upheld
Month investigation completed:
July
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained he was assaulted by staff while being relocated from the segregation unit, following an adjudication. We partially upheld the complaint on the basis that we felt more could be done to resolve the situation before force was instigated.
Recommendations/outcome:
We recommended that the Governor commission an investigation into the actions of staff and considers providing specific guidance on expectations regarding prisoners being relocated back to their wing following adjudication.

Partially Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Frankland

Complaint category:
Administration
Status:
Partially upheld
Month investigation completed:
July
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained about the length of time taken to process his ROTL application to attend his mother’s funeral. The IPCI investigation found that the funeral took place quickly after death and given steps necessary to approve ROTL for a prisoner in the LTHSE, the delay was not unreasonable. However, we were concerned the prison could not supply us with details of how far the application had progressed prior to the funeral date in order that we might better understand if there were grounds for refusal, or if it was treated urgently.
Recommendations/outcome:
We partially upheld the case in light of the lack of pertinent information made available by the prison.