Durham Prison sees violence fall during lockdown – but overcrowding concerns remain

HMP Durham’s Independent Monitoring Board has published its latest report, covering November 2020 to 2020 to October 2021 – a period in which the prison held 950 prisoners through two strict national lockdowns.

The board’s annual report has been carried out under the National Monitoring Framework, which identifies four main areas of interest: Safety; Humane Treatment; Health and Wellbeing, and Progression and Release”.

The strict rules on mixing during lockdown had helped cut the problem of violence on the jail's corridors and the period had seen the lowest number of deaths in custody in five years.

But a statement released with the full report says ‘the Board still remains very concerned about overcrowding, with two prisoners occupying cells that should have single occupancy’.

It praises the support in place to support vulnerable prisoners on arrival and help those at risk of suicide or self-harm.

But it highlights two areas of particular concern in the standard of healthcare – the lack of an assessment for some prisoners on arrival and failure to provide a secondary screening within seven days.

"Compliance in this area is extremely poor,” says the Board.

Durham is a Reception Prison – one which receives inmates as they enter the system – which meant Covid had been particularly challenging due to the high turnover of new arrivals.

But the prison had implemented a weekly Covid Forum with prisoner representatives, staff and third parties and a survey of inmates found this had been ‘very successful’.

More than 100 prisoners were interviewed face-to-face, of whom 79% said they had coped well under lockdown; 85% said the prison had managed Covid well; 93% stated staff had treated them well and 88% of prisoners had felt safe during the pandemic.

Board chair Dr. Thérèse Quincey said the jail had coped well with the extra challenges posed by the pandemic: “This has been another challenging year for prisoners and HMP Durham with varying restrictions under different stages in the prison.

"The Board is satisfied from the evidence collated that the prison has been well managed and strategies have been implemented to ensure prisoners are safe and their wellbeing maintained”.

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