THE ‘can-do’ spirit at HMP Hewell has been praised following an inspection of the prison by the Independent Monitoring Board.
Chair Rodger Lawrence singled out the impact made by new governor Ralph Lubkovski, its third in less than a year, and the unexpected breathing space offered by the Covid-19 lockdown.
He said: “There is a general feeling that things are getting better.
“The governor identified that there were a lot of people doing good work but with little effect as they were always playing catch-up.
“This is changing.
“Staff retention has also improved – this time last year staff turn over was very high while now it’s negligible and those who do leave are doing so for good reasons, not because they’ve had enough.”
He also said that the prison was a lot cleaner and, despite a major outbreak of Covid-19 late last year, Hewell had handled the pandemic well.
The prison, situated between Redditch and Bromsgrove, currently has a population of around 800 prisoners and despite the positives, the report also highlights a number of persistent problems, with 30 per cent of prisoners feeling unsafe inside, although the lockdown may have reduced this.
However this in turn had impacted the mental health of inmates as a consequence of being locked up for 23.5 hours a day.
The Board found prison has a high level of self harm and said it ‘saw little evidence of concerted efforts within the establishment as a whole to focus on fairness and equality issues’.
The problem of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences, with no release date in sight persists, it said.
In its report, the Board said: ‘We have seen no evidence of attempts to manage the sentences of these individuals with any focus on forward progression.
‘Nor have we seen recognition that the despair of endless detention results in self-destructive behaviour’.
Despite this, with violence down, cell fires down and a new and enthusiastic governor, the trajectory was upwards.
“While HMP Hewell still does not provide decent accommodation fit for the 21st Century,” said Mr Lawrence, “it is hoped recent improvements in terms of culture and investment will have a sustained and material positive impact on the lives of the men held there.”
