Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to pp. 67-68 of Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons’ Annual Report 2019-20, what steps he is taking to remedy the increase in violence and self-harm at Feltham A.

Following the annual inspection of Feltham A by HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) last Summer, a resulting action plan saw changes to the senior leadership team at the site as well as a number of actions for urgent improvements including an intervention plan focused on reducing the risk of violence. This included a targeted review of specific Use of Force incidents, focussing on governance, reporting procedures, techniques, practice and review.

Whilst the Covid-19 pandemic has meant that Feltham A has not been fully inspected by HMIP since, they visited in July as part of scrutiny visits during the Covid-19 period with HMIP praising the ‘swift actions’ taken at the start of the pandemic, communication and creativity shown by managers and noting that the YOI appeared ‘calm and well-ordered’ and that recorded self-harm had reduced since the start of the pandemic. Whilst this is encouraging, there is still more work to do and the Youth Custody Service will continue to monitor levels of violence and self-harm at Feltham A to ensure stability within the site.