THE latest report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIPS) has highlighted HMP & YOI Grampian as a forward-looking prison, with many areas of good practice and some of the best accommodation in Scotland's prison estate.
Across the nine standards that HMIPS use to inspect and monitor prisons, five were assessed as satisfactory and four were assessed as generally acceptable during the inspection between 3 and 7 June 2024.
The report states that there are “a number of areas where HMP & YOI Grampian shines”, citing the excellent work by the Outreach Team who create bespoke intervention plans to support any individual who is referred to their services.
In total, the Inspection team found 23 examples of good practice, including the older persons work party in partnership with the charity Stella’s Voice, and the Care Assistance programme, where a multi-agency team anticipates and plans for the care needs of prisoners who require extra help or specialist equipment.
They also praised the Grampian Development Programme and associated staff mentoring arrangements, management communication initiatives such as the staff ‘coffee cup’ meetings and newsletters, as well as training in neurodiversity delivered by the speech and language therapist.
However, there was criticism about the lack of time out of cell, stating “the main concern was the lack of full regime for prisoners. In particular, the very limited evening regime with almost no activities taking place beyond a relatively small number of prisoners having access to visits and the gym.”
Concerns were also raised over the current level of staff absence and vacancies, both for SPS and NHS. This was compounded by the need to step in and undertake prisoner transport at times when the service provided by GEOAmey failed, often at short notice.
In total, there were 103 recommendations in the report, with the Chief Inspector prioritising nine of those.
Work is already under way to address these including the successful re-opening of Cruden Hall and the resumption of accredited programme delivery.
The full report can be accessed here: Site under maintenance | HMIPS