Partially upheld complaint against the Director of HMP Oakwood
Complaint category:
Work, pay & money
Month investigation completed:
June
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained about a refund for his food order at HMP Oakwood after he transferred to HMP Stoke Heath before his order was delivered. He wrote again to say that he subsequently received a full refund.
Recommendations/outcome:
The complaint was partially upheld because this matter could have been resolved much sooner, ideally prior to the prisoner’s release. 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 Bure
Complaint category:
Visits, calls & letters
Month investigation completed:
June
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that a letter ‘First Class Signed For’, had not been delivered or returned. The prisoner asked to be compensated by the prison for his lost letter which included sensitive documents. He also complained that the delay in the prison providing him with the relevant paperwork to claim compensation from the mail courier, meant he was unable to claim compensation, as it was out of time.
Recommendations/outcome:
We considered the prison could have better handled the request for a mail courier compensation form, so the prisoner was not out-of-time for a claim. We suggested improvements to the way they handle requests for mail compensation forms in future.
Partially upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Full Sutton
Complaint category:
Accommodation, food, education & other facilities
Month investigation completed:
June
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that the floor in the visit’s hall was constantly dirty. When they complained to the prison, they were unhappy with the responses received which did not address the points raised.
Recommendations/outcome:
The IPCI investigation agreed that the prison’s responses did not adequately address the main points of the prisoner’s complaint. The prison was reminded of the need for cleanliness in all areas of the prison, and of the policy requirements to address the primary issues raised in a prisoner’s complaint forms.
Partially upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP/YOI Aylesbury
Complaint category:
Categorisation, progression & release preparation
Month investigation completed:
June
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained about being refused Category D status (open conditions). The IPCI investigation found there were some factual errors in the review paperwork, and confusion and misunderstanding when the prison was responding to the prisoner’s subsequent appeal and complaints.
Recommendations/outcome:
The prison resolved this matter by holding a multi-agency meeting and it was agreed the prisoner was ready for a progressive move to open conditions.
Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Garth
Complaint category:
Adjudication & IEP
Month investigation completed:
June
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that he was not allowed to seek legal advice when requested. If a prisoner asks for legal during the initial hearing, the hearing must be adjourned to allow this. The adjudicator must consider if any subsequent requests are justified. We found that although, this was the second hearing, the prisoner had not been present at the initial hearing (through no fault of his own) and therefore his request should have been treated as if it were the initial hearing and should have been allowed.
Recommendations/outcome:
We asked that the adjudication be quashed.
Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Whatton
Complaint category:
Adjudication & IEP
Month investigation completed:
June
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that the reporting officer was not present at the adjudication and therefore he was not allowed the opportunity to question him. Instead, the adjudicator relied on body worn camera footage of the incident. We found that policy says that the accused should be allowed to question the reporting officer and the hearing should be adjourned if they could not be present. This placed the prisoner at a disadvantage and was a fatal flaw in the proceedings.
Recommendations/outcome:
We asked that the adjudication be quashed.
Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Belmarsh
Complaint category:
Property
Month investigation completed:
June
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that some of their property had been lost by staff at Belmarsh. The prisoner had submitted their initial complaint about the loss of their property in September 2022 and since that time had been relocated to three further prisons. After IPCI’s involvement staff at Belmarsh completed an investigation into the prisoner’s property complaint.
Recommendations/outcome:
The prisoner was offered £100 in compensation for his lost property and received a copy of his property cards.
Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Wymott and the Governor of HMP Lindholme
Complaint category:
Property
Month investigation completed:
June
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that some of their property had been lost by HMP Lindholme after they transferred to HMP Wymott. During IPCI’s investigation it was confirmed that some of the prisoner’s property had been sent to storage at Branston, and that seven months after the initial complaint HMP Wymott had subsequently sent for the stored property.
We upheld this complaint because we did not think the prison had adopted the “problem solving approach” required by national policy.
Recommendations/outcome:
The prisoner has been reunited with the missing property. 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 Stoke Heath
Complaint category:
Property
Month investigation completed:
June
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that a large amount of property went missing when he moved wings at Stoke Heath. Whilst the prison didn’t accept they had done anything wrong, they had already offered £100 compensation. The prisoner claimed the missing property was valued at much more.
Recommendations/outcome:
We partially upheld this compliant because we found that it likely that Stoke Heath was responsible for some property going missing, but we were unable to fully determine what was missing as the prisoner had not provided accurate information in his complaint forms.
Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Garth
Complaint category:
Accommodation, food, education & other facilities
Month investigation completed:
June
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained about the lack of ventilation at Garth, he said that this had been an ongoing problem at the prison for three years.
Recommendations/outcome:
The IPCI investigation found that there was an issue with the ventilation, which had been raised with maintenance teams a number of times. Whilst there was not a date for completion of ongoing repairs and we considered it would not be reasonable for us to set an arbitrary date.
