12. VISITING COMMITTEE

12.1 We met with the Chairman and Secretary of the VC. The Committee, which had a total of eight members, met on a regular basis - normally at least quarterly - and had devised a rota whereby there were visits to the prison on a fortnightly basis, with members often visiting in pairs in order to enhance their observations. Those visits included regular inspections of the two Halls, the workshops, the Health Centre and the Female and Education Units. In addition, meals were sampled and prisoners’ complaints were recorded in a request book as required; that said, we were advised that at the present time, approaches from prisoners were relatively rare occurrences.

12.2 The main issues raised by Committee representatives included the following:-

12.2.1 Relationships with Prison Management were described as being "absolutely first class" and in their opinion, the current Governor and Deputy were a particularly effective team.

12.2.2 Staff/prisoner relationships were said to be good, with a relaxed atmosphere in the prison, despite some of the strict control and drug enforcement policies which were being pursued by the Governor. Though drugs had been permeating the prison from the outside community, the VC felt that the issue was being tackled in a tough but very constructive way by the Governor and staff were to be praised for their obvious willingness in support of his endeavours. They were also relieved that any problem of dirty needles - a potential danger to public health - was being approached sensibly, via the availability of sterilising tablets.

12.2.3 Arrangements for random MDT were viewed as being impressive.

12.2.4 Catering standards were held to be reasonable, given that staff were cooking for a large and constantly changing population.

12.2.5. There had been many commendable improvements to health care in the prison, especially in the last eighteen months.

12.2.6 The VC was, however, greatly concerned by the fact that investment in the prison fabric was not keeping up with demand. Rising levels of overcrowding also meant that remand and convicted prisoners were now mixing in the two Halls and the fear was expressed that the prison might reach a stage in the not too distant future when it would be unable to cope. The fear was also expressed that the continuing growth in local drug related crime could result in even further increases in prisoner numbers.

12.2.7 The continuing increase in prisoner numbers had rendered the small visits room to be wholly unacceptable. Already previously held to be cramped, it afforded little privacy and had become a nightmare for staff to try and supervise. It was the view of the Committee that a new visits area was now desperately needed.

12.3 An issue which was of particular concern to the Committee was the number of recent suicides, though the representatives stressed that in their opinion staff were doing their absolute best to prevent them. The VC also issued the reminder that in such a small prison, the effects of suicide on individual members of staff should not be forgotten.

12.4 Finally, the VC drew attention to the low levels of staff sickness, stating that above all, this was tangible evidence that the staff were a most responsible and willing group. In the Committee’s view, their efforts should be recognised by a commitment to some investment in the fabric of the prison at the earliest opportunity.