Significant progress at HMP The Mount – but time to end an injustice

HMP The Mount has made huge strides forward during the reporting year, say the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) in its latest annual report (published 1 August 2024). The improvement in staffing numbers, experience and retention has resulted in noticeably enhanced relationships between prison management and prisoners.

The changes that the Board has seen over the last 12 months are significant. Moreover, they have been achieved in a difficult environment, with continued overcrowding, increasing churn of prisoners, and a lack of funds to address the outstanding (and growing) capital investment needs.

The Board is pleased to report that:

• As staffing has improved, the prison has been able to offer a much-improved regime, with prisoners spending more time out of their cells and many more able to attend education and training.
• Safety management has improved significantly, with troubled prisoners being far better supported through personal crises.

This said, there is much, often outside the control of prison staff, that still gives the IMB cause for concern:

• The continued detention of IPP prisoners long after the initial tariffs that were set, which the Board considers to be inhumane. The prison was not able to provide these prisoners with the programmes, courses or support they need to help them progress. To all intents and purposes these prisoners are being warehoused rather than being helped towards rehabilitation and release, the criteria for which also need change to ensure objectivity and fairness.
• The delays in the criminal justice system had knock-on effects on the prison. The increase in people being held on remand has meant that prisoners were being sent to HMP The Mount to serve short sentences. They were not in the prison long enough to benefit from any training or rehabilitative opportunities, but managing their admission, induction, transfer or release on licence takes significant resource.
• HMP The Mount was overcrowded, with too many prisoners being doubled up in cells that are designed for one person (9.3%).
• Drugs were rife and there was not enough support to help prisoners abstain. The system needs additional external support and funding for this, as well as to improve the physical barriers to the importation of drugs.
• The housing crisis and shortage of approved premises meant that around 50% of men were released homeless from HMP The Mount.

IMB HMP The Mount Chair, Simon Clarke said:

“HMP The Mount has made huge strides forward since the Board’s last annual report and we commend the Governor and his staff on the progress that has been achieved in challenging circumstances.

However, the continued detention of prisoners serving indeterminate IPP sentences long after they have served the initial tariffs set can only be morally justified if they are given all the support they need to become ready for release, and if the conditions for release are clear and objective. This should not be conditional on them being able to demonstrate they no longer pose a risk – the burden of proof should be reversed. We call on the new government to make this happen.”