Read the report: Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Frankland (13–24 January 2020)

HMP Frankland, near Durham, one of the country’s most secure prisons, was found to have maintained reasonably good outcomes across the board for around 840 convicted adult men held there.

Frankland has 250 men classified as category A, the highest security classification, and nine are considered as high-risk category A. Almost all those held were serving sentences of longer than ten years, with the majority serving indeterminate or life sentences.

Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said: “The majority had committed the most serious, and often violent, offences and posed very great risks to the public. The security measures applied at Frankland, as well as the depth of custody experienced, reflected fully these risks.”

Findings at the inspection undertaken by HM Inspectorate of Prisons in January 2020 were similar to those in 2016. Mr Clarke added: “A stable population meant daily movement through reception was limited, but new prisoners were received and inducted well. Most prisoners reported feeling safe and overall levels of violence were low, despite all the risks. Some good work was taking place to ensure this continued to be the case, and although use of force had increased, it remained lower than the level seen in similar prisons. Accountability for its use was generally good.”

Drug testing suggested that more illicit drugs were available than in comparison to other high security prisons, and prisoners said that drugs were easy to get hold of.

Case management of prisoners in crisis varied greatly, although prisoners in crisis who inspectors spoke to nevertheless felt cared for. Frankland remained a reasonably respectful prison: relationships were relaxed and informal, and most prisoners felt respected by staff. The environment and living conditions were satisfactory.

In the context of a settled and stable training establishment, Mr Clarke said, “We were surprised to find about 30% of prisoners locked up during the working day, including the majority of those who had reached retirement age.

“That aside, leaders and managers had worked well together to ensure that the quality of regime and education offered was reasonably good.” Ofsted inspectors judged the overall provision of education, skills and work provision as ‘good’.

Public protection arrangements were robust and the prison had enough offending behaviour interventions to meet most need, augmented by some very good psychology-led one-to-one work.

Overall, Mr Clarke said:

“Frankland is a large and complex high security prison with many challenges, managing some notable risks. The outcomes that prisoners experienced, despite this, continued to be good. We leave the prison with a number of recommendations we hope will assist further improvement.”

Phil Copple, HM Prison and Probation Service Director General of Prisons, said:

“Thanks to the hard work of the Governor and his staff, most prisoners feel safe and levels of violence are low. Since this inspection, officers have received training to help vulnerable prisoners, there are more activities to encourage time out of cells, and the body scanner continues to limit the flow of drugs.”

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Notes to editors

1. The report, published on 5 May 2020, can be found on the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website.

2. HM Inspectorate of Prisons is an independent inspectorate, inspecting places of detention to report on conditions and treatment, and promote positive outcomes for those detained and the public.

3. Situated on the outskirts of Durham, HMP Frankland opened in 1983 and was the first purpose-built dispersal prison. Additional prisoner accommodation was opened in 1998, 2005 and 2009. It is part of the long-term and high security estate.

4. HM Inspectorate of Prisons assesses adult prisons against four ‘healthy prison tests’ – safety, respect, purposeful activity and rehabilitation and release planning. There are four grades – good (4), reasonably good (3), not sufficiently good (2) and poor (1). In 2016, Frankland scored 3-3-4-3. In 2020, it scored 3-3-3-3.

5. Notable features from this inspection: no prisoners were held on remand during our inspection; 30% of prisoners were category A security status; over 50% of prisoners had been at Frankland for over four years; 97% of prisoners were subject to multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA); more than a third of the population were over 50; and only four prisoners had been released from Frankland in the previous six months.

6. This unannounced inspection took place between 13 and 24 January 2020.

7. Please contact John Steele at HM Inspectorate of Prisons on 07880 787452, or at john.steele@justice.gov.uk, if you would like more information.