“The prison is not safe enough.” – that was the Independent Monitoring Board’s verdict after the contract was handed over at Nottingham’s privately run Lowdham Grange Prison

The prison was the first in Britain to undergo a change of contractor. The change brought a raft of problems which were highlighted in the Independent Monitoring Board’s (IMB) report to the Ministry of Justice. The concerns sparked an unannounced inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons and following their highly critical report His Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS) stepped in to take over the running of the prison. It is now being taken back into full public ownership.

The Board’s report records:

• Six deaths in custody
• Increased violence among prisoners
• Increased assaults on staff
• The largest weapons find in any prison
• Increased self harm by prisoners
• 50% of mandatory drug tests proved positive
• Large finds of illegally brewed alcohol
• Large numbers of illegally held mobile phones.

Many of the problems at the category B high security prison can be traced to staffing problems. An unexpectedly high number of staff left at the time of the contract change. The remaining staff felt overworked and the numbers off sick caused serious concern, making the staff shortages worse and adding to the spiral of decline according to the Board.

Lack of staff meant the prison operated a ‘red regime’ for long periods where the prisoners were locked up in single cells all day except for their statutory half hour of exercise. Prisoners complained that on one weekend they were not released at all from Friday afternoon until Monday morning.

Shortly after the ‘step-in’ by HMPPS the prison was locked down for a week for a thorough search by specialist teams. The number of improvised weapons recovered was the biggest ever found in such a search. Large quantities of drugs, mainly psychoactive substances or ‘spice’, and other contraband such as mobile phones were seized. Gallons of home-brewed ‘hooch’ were discovered as well as a still used for producing spirits.

IMB members also raised concerns over health care for prisoners, particularly for the high numbers with mental health problems. The unit run by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust was understaffed. Nurses were told not to go into the prison wings except in emergencies because of safety concerns. The shortage of prison officers meant many prisoners missed clinical appointments because there were no staff to escort them.

There were six deaths in custody during the year from March 2023 to February 2024, only one of which appears to be due to natural causes. The Coroner published notices for Prevention of Future Deaths following inquests into previous deaths at Lowdham Grange which were highly critical of the prison’s lack of efforts to learn lessons, to institute or enforce policies, or to educate staff. The Coroner also criticised the lack of candour by the prison management, officers, and the health care team in withholding evidence to the inquest.

The prison is now being run by HMPPS with a mix of staff from the prison service and the private contractor, Sodexo, as it transitions to a fully publicly owned prison later in 2024.