Damning report labels Aylesbury Vale prison facilities 'awful' and 'woeful'

HMP Spring Hill in Grendon Underwood was criticised in an official report for having “accommodation [that] was unfit for purpose”.

Prisoners’ rooms in the old and deteriorating huts were in urgent need of refurbishment, although the 40 prisoners held in the new pods installed during the pandemic had much better facilities, the report states.

The prison was also criticised for having two few inmates in employment and a lack of clarity over a curriculum pathway to assist prisoners with their rehabilitation.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons conducted the review which is the independent body which assesses jails across the nation.

Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons said: “When the regime reaches its final, settled state, more than half of prisoners should be out at work every day.”

At HMP Spring Hill 70 out of 240 inhabitants are in full-time paid work, training, or education.

The report links issues around work opportunities for prisoners to the difficulties they face getting access to release on temporary licence (ROTL).

The inspector states that educational and vocational courses and work opportunities are once again available to prisoners post-Covid.

Mr Taylor concluded: “Ultimately, the prison service must find the money to rebuild all the accommodation on site to provide sustainable, decent facilities for these prisoners. In category C prisons across the country, prisoners who have met the criteria are stuck waiting to get a move to category D prisons because there are not enough spaces.”

HMP Springhill is listed as a Category D, these institutions are meant for inmates who can be “reasonably trusted not to try to escape, and are given the privilege of an open prison”.

While Category C is prisons are meant for those who cannot be trusted.

Mr Taylor said: “The accommodation in the prison was awful, showing a woeful lack of investment from the prison service. Prisoners slept in pre-fabricated house blocks built in the 1960s and designed to last for 20 years. Half a century later, they were beyond repair: holes in the walls; erratic plumbing; floors that were coming up and windows that did not open.

"There were signs everywhere of the remedial repairs that had been needed over many years to extend the life of buildings that should have been replaced years ago.

“Three larger accommodation blocks had been condemned because they no longer met fire safety standards, and as a result, the jail was operating well

below its usual capacity of 335, holding only 241 men at the time of the inspection.

"Ultimately, the prison service must find the money to rebuild all the accommodation on site to provide sustainable, decent facilities for these prisoners.”

Despite the issues surrounding the prison’s work programme and accommodation facilities, inspectors did find the building to be safe and reasonably respectful.

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