Lewes Prison battling rising violence, self-harm and drugs with men trapped ‘in a cycle of homelessness and offending’, inspection finds

HM Inspectorate of Prisons announced that violence and self-harm at HMP Lewes were ‘notably worse than other reception prisons’.

The inspection took place between February 5 and 16 and HMI Prisons said Lewes had been in ‘a concerning state’ at its last two inspections.

The report is at hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk.

Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said: “The new Governor of Lewes had made some real improvement since our last visit, but the jail remained trapped in a cycle of staffing shortfalls, boredom, and drugs driving rising violence and self-harm. Too many men were released homeless and inevitably recalled very shortly thereafter. None of this is unique to Lewes; reception prisons up and down the country continue to be on the frontline of the current population crisis, grappling with increasingly transient populations, ageing infrastructure and a lack of activity places for the populations that they are being asked to hold.”

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HMI Prisons said there was a ‘serious drug problem’ at Lewes with more than half of prisoners receiving support for substance use and 28 per cent testing positive for drugs in mandatory testing. HMI Prisons said ‘very poor provision of purposeful activity’ was fuelling demand for drugs with just one third of prisoners engaged in education or employment. HMI Prisons said the prison had plans to improve this and had been delivering creative initiatives but said many ‘spent as little as two hours’ out of their cell each day with working days being ‘as little as 1.5 hours each in the morning and afternoon’.

HMI Prisons said more than half of the people held at Lewes were on remand, with an increasing number arriving from London and Hampshire where local reception prisons were too full. HMI Prisons added that when first night cells were full, men were held in cells in the wing housing sex offenders or others wanting to be separate from the main population where they ‘received no induction and very little support or time out of cell until a cell became available’.

They said the inspection took place after the introduction of the Government’s early release scheme, adding that its implementation was undermining safe release planning and risk management.

Mr Taylor said: “The need to release offenders early to free up space in our jails is a further sign of the pressure that our prison service is under, with local leaders having to make difficult choices as the day we run out of places draws closer.”

He said: “Although some of these issues may, I hope, reduce as the scheme embeds, more fundamentally, an urgent conversation is needed about who we send to prison, for how long, and what we want to happen during their time inside.”

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “As the report recognises, the new governor is already delivering significant improvements at HMP Lewes but we know there is much more to be done. That’s why we’ve recruited new staff specifically to combat drugs entering the prison, while ramping up mandatory drug testing and increasing time out of cells so more offenders can get the education and training they need to turn their back on crime.”