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The high turnover of prisoners is having an impact on HMP Send, says Independent Monitoring Board

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HMP Send

In its annual report for 2024-25, published on 10 September 2025, the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) at HMP Send reports that it continues to consider Send to be a prison in which the management and staff make a great effort to try and ensure the safety of prisoners. However, the high turnover of prisoners, and an increase in prisoners with complex needs, has put pressure on staff and the prison regime, leading to some concerning trends:

  • more prisoners need to be kept apart for safety reasons;
  • self-harm has risen by approximately 20%;
  • assaults, particularly prisoner-on-prisoner, have increased;
  • use of force incidents have more than doubled.

The Board also voices concern about:  

  • the mishandling of prisoners’ property when they move between prisons, which can take months to resolve and often leads to permanent loss.
  • the continued detention of prisoners serving imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences, way beyond the tariff set by the courts.
  • the lack of progress in rolling out digital technology at Send, failing to prepare prisoners for re-entry to life in the community.
  • the use of escorting chains (attaching prisoners to an officer on a long chain) during medical appointments in the community. The Board acknowledges that this is subject to risk assessment but thinks the use of escorting chains should be the exception, not the norm, during intimate examinations or consultations.

More positively, the Board reports that:

  • the 64 new rapid deployment cells – which provide an incentivised substance free living area for prisoners with a history of substance abuse – continue to be very popular with prisoners and support their recovery.
  • many prisoners have spoken positively about the educational courses they are taking and the impact that this had on them.
  • the prison’s handling of prisoners’ complaints of discrimination has been closely monitored and, in the Board’s view, has improved.

IMB Send Chair, Philippa Helme, said:

“Despite the best efforts of management and staff, the increased turnover of prisoners has had a negative impact over the reporting year, both on prisoner safety and on the prison regime. The Board will be watching to see if these trends continue in the current year.”