VOLUNTEERS checking conditions at Channings Wood prison have criticised successive Government ministers for continued failings in the prison system.

The Independent Monitoring Board, which has just published its annual report, says the Category C prison near Ogwell continues to be impacted by national pressures.

They say this has affected delivery of ‘critical functions intended to reduce reoffending’.

Overcrowding, the report says, regularly adds strain to a system already under pressure, at times preventing it from fulfilling the necessary functions of a training and resettlement prison.

That staff can generally cope with a range of challenges, including a huge inflow and outflow of prisoners caused by the closure of HMP Dartmoor, is described by Board members as ‘commendable’.

But the report goes on to note that prisoners still serving the long-abolished imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences experience ‘hopelessness, frustration and, for many, poor mental health’.

They face great difficulty progressing towards release and, in the Board’s opinion, a resentencing exercise, rejected by prison ministers, remains vital.

The ‘inability’ to deal locally with the repairs backlog to the ageing infrastructure, particularly to roofing, workshops and essential equipment, continues to adversely affect prisoners’ decency, access to purposeful activity and the overall operation of the prison.

The report says managers at local level are not empowered, and often lack the resources, to deal with this.

Missing or lost personal property has become a ‘running sore’, according to the Board, which says there seems to be neither ‘the will nor the ability’ to find an effective cure. However, despite the concerns identified in the report, the Board has observed managers and staff striving to maintain a safe environment for prisoners, especially those presenting with challenging behaviour.

In a recent survey, 87per cent of prisoners said they felt safe all or most of the time. IMB member Robert Jordan said: ‘Year after year the Board has asked the same questions of ministers and the Prison Service.

‘Why is the Prison Service incapable of accurately accounting for, storing and moving prisoners’ property?

‘Why are managers at local level not empowered to maintain their own estate and obliged to wait years for external contractors to get on with essential maintenance?

‘Why is the government prepared to tolerate legacy IPP sentences without providing effective support for prisoners to move towards release.

‘It is the Board’s view that these sentences are inhumane.

‘Why has so little been done to address the basic decency needs of elderly prisoners?

‘These questions will not be new to managers and staff at HMP Channings Wood.

‘They know given the right level of support and resources, prisoners could be better prepared for release and their risk of reoffending reduced.

‘This is not a finger-pointing exercise, but if it was that finger would be pointed at a procession of prison ministers and justice secretaries who, with a very few honourable exceptions, sat on their hands and waited for the next reshuffle.’

Independent Monitoring Boards are made up of unpaid volunteers operating in every prison in England and Wales, and every immigration detention facility across the UK.