Partially upheld complaint against the Director of HMP Dovegate
Complaint category:
Categorisation, progression & release preparation
Month investigation completed:
May
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that his categorisation review was carried out more than six months late, despite him completing his outstanding offending behaviour work some months earlier. Our investigation found that that this contributed towards delaying his move to a Category C establishment and partially upheld the complaint.
Recommendations/outcome:
At the time our investigation concluded the prisoner had been recategorised to Category C and transferred to a suitable establishment. A copy of our outcome letter was sent to the Director of Dovegate to make him aware of the issues identified during the investigation.
Partially upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Swaleside
Complaint category:
Property
Month investigation completed:
May
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that some of their property had been lost by HMP Swaleside, after they transferred to HMP Woodhill. Our investigation found that there was no evidence that the prisoner had received any of the remaining property.
After IPCI’s involvement, a bag of stored property belonging to the prisoner was found at Swaleside.
Recommendations/outcome:
Swaleside agreed to send on the bag of property they had found.
Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Wormwood Scrubs
Complaint category:
Accommodation, food, education & other facilities
Month investigation completed:
May
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained about receiving food which did not consider his specific dietary requirements. He was allergic to nuts, gluten, wheat and fish. He reported that after one meal he went into anaphylactic shock and had to use his epi-pen.
Recommendations/outcome:
The prisoner had already been released when we concluded our investigation. After IPCI’s involvement the prison were reminded of the need for dietary conditions to be identified during the Reception Healthcare interview and communicated to the kitchens
Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP & YOI Moorland
Complaint category:
Adjudication & IEP
Month investigation completed:
May
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that they did not receive paper copies of six IEP warnings that were issued against them in April, June and July at HMP Moorland. Having investigated the matter, IPCI was satisfied that while he had not received the necessary notifications, prison staff had not treated him unreasonably or unfairly.
Recommendations/outcome:
We asked that the prison address the issue of incomplete notifications and to take action to prevent any recurrence.
Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Full Sutton
Complaint category:
Administration
Month investigation completed:
April
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that his requests for CCTV footage were not being dealt with, and he was not provided with the requested footage. Our investigation found that this complaint was not being dealt with as SARs which should have been the case.
Recommendations/outcome:
No formal recommendations required as during the course of the investigation the prison instigated the SARs process for this matter.
Partially Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Low Newton
Complaint category:
Staff behaviour
Month investigation completed:
April
Year investigation completed:
2024
A prisoner with a Gender Recognition Certificate held in the female estate complained that a male member of staff was present in the MDT suite while she completed a urine sample for an MDT. Our investigation could not establish this, but we concluded that more could be done to ensure Voluntary Agreements set out clearly the expectations around searching.
Recommendations/outcome:
We recommended the Governor review all VA’s with transgender prisoners, ensuring all are policy complaint and signed by both staff and prisoners.
Partially Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Onley
Complaint category:
Accommodation, food, education & other facilities
Month investigation completed:
April
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained he was given pork sausages when he had ordered Halal chicken sausages. During our investigation we found the prison complaint and DIRF responses queried whether the prisoner had previously ordered non halal food which we found to be an irrelevant and confusing response.
Recommendations/outcome:
The prison accepted a mistake had been made and that their responses to the complaint and DIRF were confusing and unhelpful, and they apologised for the confusing responses and the error.
Partially Upheld complaint against the Governor of HMP Onley
Complaint category:
Categorisation, progression & release preparation
Month investigation completed:
April
Year investigation completed:
2024
The prisoner complained that staff had told him he was ineligible to transfer to complete an offending behaviour course until his was closer to his conditional release date. During our investigation the prison accepted that sequencing for programmes should be based on earliest date of release. For prisoners eligible for parole this would be Parole Eligibility date (PED), and they agreed to pursue a transfer based on this date rather that the CRD.
Recommendations/outcome:
No recommendations necessary as the prison accepted the local resolution to sequence a transfer according to PED.
Upheld complaint against the Governor of Feltham YOI
Complaint category:
Adjudication & IEP
Month investigation completed:
April
Year investigation completed:
2024
A young person complained that he had been found guilty in his absence and was not given the opportunity to contest the charge. The ROH did not reflect that attempts were made to engage the young person, and there is no refusal to attend form completed.
Recommendations/outcome:
We recommended the finding be quashed, We also raised this matter with the YCS Head of Operations and highlighted the importance of ensuring every effort is made to engage young people in the adjudication process even if they refuse to attend, and that the refusal to attend forms must be completed.
Partially Upheld complaint against the Director of Oakhill STC
Complaint category:
Administration
Month investigation completed:
April
Year investigation completed:
2024
A young person complained that sensitive personal information relating to him had been left unsecured and had been obtained by another resident.
Recommendations/outcome:
Our investigation found Oakhill addressed the complaint seriously, apologised and moved the young person to a different unit. Further enquiries by IPCI established the incident was properly reported, relevant members of staff spoken to, and processes put in place to prevent a re-occurrence of the incident.
