Shrewsbury prison system criticised by inspectors
A system for the assessment and sentence management of high-risk sex offenders at Shrewsbury prison requires urgent action, inspectors have warned.
Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick said too little was being done at the prison to address the risks and needs of sex offenders, despite the fact that "a significant number" of offenders were still in denial.
Mr Hardwick, said it was disturbing that in a prison which holds a large number of such offenders, "systems to assess individual risk or supervise and manage sentences were so lacklustre."
In January 2010, HMP Shrewsbury became a category C training prison for vulnerable prisoners holding 333 inmates, the majority of whom were sex offenders, at the time of the inspection last September.
Yet inspectors found that "there was no meaningful analysis to identify offending behaviour interventions, the range of offending behaviour work was inadequate and too little was being done to address the needs and risks among these offenders," Mr Hardwick said.
He added: "The prison's principal weakness remained its approach to offender management and, to some extent, resettlement - a significant concern in the context of its role and the profile of prisoners it held.
"There was no effective analysis of prisoner need and the prison's approach lacked direction, co-ordination and governance."
The HMIP report found that too many prisoners, especially convicted sex offenders, "remained unchallenged in their attitude to their offence."
Generally Good Report
There were positives however in that multi-agency public protection arrangements (Mappa) were effective and there were "reasonable" procedures for assessing prisoner resettlement needs.
Mr Hardwick said: "In many areas this is a good report that reflects a safe and decent institution.
"The regime is much improved and is more appropriate to the institution's purpose, although more needs to be done. The key role of reducing the risk of re-offending among a potentially high-risk group, however, requires urgent attention."
Chief executive of the National Offender Management Service Michael Spurr added: "The governor and his staff are working hard to address the areas where the inspector found that improvement was required, including offender management and resettlement.
"Shrewsbury is already adapting quickly to its new role and preventing re-offending and protecting the public will continue to be at the core of its work."
