"Limited and fragile" - Inspector's verdict on progress at Wandsworth

On 12 May 2025 HM Inspectorate of Prisons published its Independent Review of Progress (IRP) at Wandsworth Prison. This follows the Urgent Notification issued a year ago by the Chief Inspector who said that "there was a degree of despondency amongst prisoners that I have not come across in my time as Chief Inspector." The IRP follows up on the concerns highlighted in last year's report.

The findings of the latest Inspector’s report are in line with what WPIC has heard from families, what we have seen for ourselves when we visited the prison and are mostly in line with what the Governor has told us.

The prison is definitely cleaner, with less rubbish and fewer rats. The conditions in the Trinity wings are now decent and violence and drug use in the prison is reducing, although still too high. However, continuing problems with absenteeism amongst prison staff mean that most inmates are lucky to get two hours a day out of their cells and to have any education or work opportunities.

While money has been set aside for vital improvements to boilers, showers and windows these works will still take at least five years to finish which is far too long.  It is shocking to read that a major cause of self-harm is frustration about the lack of time out of cells and access to working phones to maintain contact with families. Why is Wandsworth Prison so poor at tackling issues such as missing clothing, fixing phones, dealing with basic requests and resolving prisoners’ complaints? 

What does the latest HMIP report on Wandsworth say?

The report looks at each of the areas of concern highlighted in last year’s full report and assesses what progress has been made. The IRP concludes that there has been insufficient progress on 5 out of the 10 areas of concern from last year’s HMIP report and on 4 out 5 areas relating to education, skills and work which are inspected by Ofsted. Insufficient progress is defined as “leaders had begun to implement a realistic improvement strategy . . . but prisoner outcomes were improving too slowly or had not improved at all.”

The areas where there is insufficient progress are:

• Drugs - gate security is still vulnerable; cell windows are vulnerable but the programme for replacement will take 5 years

• Time out of cell – this is more consistent but still unpredictable; staff are still unable to account for all prisoners; unemployed prisoners (58% of prison population) can only spend two hours a day out of cell. On the positive side, men in Trinity wings are unlocked for most of the day and collection of medication has improved   

• Staff-prisoner relationships – again, there are improvements on Trinity but elsewhere there are reports of staff being rude

• Condition of cells and facilities - communal areas are better and rats and vermin have been dealt with but many cells are still in poor condition. There are problems with heating and hot water and showers are in poor condition with inadequate ventilation

• Processes to help prisoners resolve problems - prisoners are not confident in the prison’s complaints and applications procedures. Response times are too long and staff are sometimes unhelpful and dismissive. However, staff have made efforts to improve responses to property issues.

There was good progress on:

• Reducing violence and encouraging positive behaviour – the number of assaults has reduced (although assaults on prisoners has stalled in last 4 months). The report highlights the good work done by Catch 22 on behaviour

• Resettlement and pre-release support – the remand support service has been reinstated and a new Leavers Lounge has opened to give practical help just before release

There was reasonable progress on:

• Provision for foreign nationals - translations are available on wing kiosks; the inspector noted that Catch 22 deliver good support but their contract is coming to an end with no replacement lined up

• Inexperienced staff - despite the investment in training and a new senior leadership team, there are a lot of staff on temporary promotion and there are still problems with recruitment and staff absences. “Visibility on the wings from senior leaders was inconsistent but had started to improve"

• Identifying the drivers of self-harm and following up lessons from self-inflicted deaths – there is good oversight by leaders of the death in custody action plan which details recommendations from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman and Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) reports from coroners.. However, many of the concerns identified following self-inflicted deaths have not yet been rectified. There have been some improvements in response times to emergency call bells but there are still frequent delays.

4 out of 5 areas of concern monitored by Ofsted, relating to education, skills and work provision, are considered by them to have made insufficient progress. These are:

• Provision of purposeful activity

• Attendance at activities

• Senior leaders not sufficiently involved

• Uncompleted personal learning plans 

What will the Prison Service do to make things better?  

HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has set out in a letter to the Chief Inspector what it will do to respond to the areas where there has been insufficient progress. The prison will:

• Work to address the shortfalls in permanent and capable Custodial Managers

• Continue the current drive to reduce the availability of drugs

• Continue to improve prisoner accommodation

• Review the current regime

These commitments are welcome but short on specific actions and timetables. Will they be enough?

Despite the “energy and focus” of the new governor, so much in Wandsworth Prison is not even acceptable, let alone decent and humane for most of the prisoners.  The Inspector’s conclusion that progress is “limited and fragile” feels about right. WPIC will continue to keep up the pressure for further improvements.