First category C prison issued with an Urgent Notification following a decade of systemic failure and decline

The Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor , has written to the Secretary of State to invoke an urgent notification (UN) for improvement at HMP Rochester after a damning inspection found decrepit conditions, rising violence and self-harm, widespread illicit drug-use and a dearth of activity to prepare men for release.

The inspection was the latest in a decade of successively poor and declining inspections of the jail, despite the prison having been warned about inspectors’ concerns following a disappointing independent review of progress in 2022. ?

Rochester becomes the first category C training prison to be issued with an urgent notification. As a training and resettlement prison, Rochester’s focus should be on getting men into education, work and training to increase their chances of employment on release as well as delivering work to reduce prisoners’ risk of reoffending. Rochester was fundamentally failing in this, with our checks finding less than a third of those it held being engaged in education, work or training and a woeful provision of public protection work. The offender management unit was ineffective and critically short of trained probation staff to manage high risk prisoners.

Conditions at Rochester were squalid with decrepit buildings and infestations of both rats and mice plaguing older buildings. Prisoners resorted to creating barriers from cardboard to fill gaps under cell doors to try and keep vermin out of their cells.

Leaders were not visible enough around the jail, and inexperienced staff lacked the confidence and were not sufficiently supported to enforce basic rules and standards. Wings were chaotic and safety was deteriorating.

The rate of prisoner assaults had increased by 67% in the past year and there was more self-harm. There had been two self-inflicted deaths since our last inspection. Use of force was also high, and inspectors found some instances that were inappropriate. Drugs were endemic, with 42% of prisoners testing positive in random testing and more than half of men telling inspectors that it was easy to get drugs, including those prescribed to other prisoners.

Relationships between staff and prisoners were poor, with significantly fewer prisoners saying that staff treated them with respect than at other comparable prisons, and inspectors finding significant evidence of disrespectful treatment of visitors by staff.

Inspectors also identified worrying failings in healthcare provision. Medicine administration and supply arrangements were poor, meaning patients either missed or faced delays in receiving important medicines. Clinical appointments were cancelled too frequently, leading to considerable risk for patients. These issues are a significant concern to the Care Quality Commission as the regulator of healthcare.

The regional prison group director was aware of the many problems at Rochester and had appointed a new interim governor to try to address them. However, the new governor had also been tasked with the additional challenge of reopening and managing the Cookham Wood site in response to national population pressures, with prisoners starting to be transferred to HMP Cookham Wood during the inspection. This created a potential distraction from the very pressing issues in Rochester itself.

Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons

2 September 2024

Notes to editors

1. This inspection took place between 12-22 August 2024.
2. Read the letter announcing the Urgent Notification at Rochester and the Rochester debriefing paper sent to the Secretary of State on 30 August 2024: HMP Rochester Urgent Notification
3. The Urgent Notification process was introduced in 2017 and is a means of raising immediate, urgent concerns following an inspection which requires a response and action plan from the Secretary of State within 28 days. A full report from the inspection is still published in the normal time frame of within 14 weeks of the inspection. The Urgent Notification is supported by the evidence of the debrief from the inspection, which is presented to the governor, and which outlines the key issues which will be explored in more detail in the full report once published.
4. We invoke an Urgent Notification by writing to the Secretary of State for Justice within seven calendar days of completing an inspection setting out our concerns. We also tell the governor of the prison that we are doing so. The Secretary of State then has 28 days following publication of the Urgent Notification to reply to us setting out an action plan of improvement. Find out more about Urgent Notifications .
5. The inspection team assesses the establishment’s performance against the applicable healthy establishment tests using the following judgements: 4 – outcomes for prisoners are good, 3 – outcomes for prisoners are reasonably good, 2 – outcomes for prisoners are not sufficiently good and 1 – outcomes for prisoners are poor. In this inspection, the scores were Safety – 2, Respect – 1, Purposeful activity – 1, Preparation for release – 1.
6. Rochester is the seventh prison to be issued with an Urgent Notification since November 2022. The other prisons are Wandsworth , Exeter , Woodhill , Bristol , Bedford and Cookham Wood YOI .
7. 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.
8. Please email [email protected] if you would like more information.