Latest news with #HMPLowdhamGrange
BBC News
15 hours ago
- BBC News
HMP Lowdham Grange: 'Prisoners shouldn't be leaving jail in body bags'
A woman whose fiance died in prison has criticised management and staff for failing to make enough changes to stop other inmates Boyce was 41 when he was found dead in his cell at HMP Lowdham Grange in Nottinghamshire on 3 October February, an inquest heard there were repeated failures at the Category B jail over the deaths of three other men in March 2023, while a report issued this month noted 10 inmates died in custody there between August 2023 and March this Woodhead said: "We don't have a death sentence, and people shouldn't be coming out of jail in body bags." The Ministry of Justice (MoJ), which now runs the prison, said it had introduced measures to "improve safety and support". Ms Woodhead, who lives in Nottinghamshire, said she first met Boyce when they were working in London in their 20s and reconnected years later when they were both in prison after he saw her writing in a magazine for had been jailed in 2015 after being found guilty of the murder of his former girlfriend, and was told to serve a minimum term of 20 arrived at Lowdham Grange in 2018, and Ms Woodhead said conditions began to deteriorate before the coronavirus pandemic the day Boyce died, he had been reported as being seen under the influence of alcohol by staff, who were supposed to carry out checks on him had they followed prison inquest found he did not mean to kill himself, with a jury concluding staff "failed to adequately share information about [his] intoxication with colleagues" and that staff "isolated the electricity supply to the sockets inside his cell" without coroner issued a prevention of future death report after the inquest, raising concerns over staff "deliberately ignoring cell bells", not following prison policy and an "apparent absence of a culture of candour"."The policies that were in place weren't followed, [and] some of the policies that should have been in place weren't in place," said Ms management of Lowdham Grange changed in February 2023, with Serco handing over the running of the jail to Sodexo in the first transfer of prisons between private providers. Less than six weeks later, three prisoners - Anthony Binfield, David Richards and Rolandas Karbauskas - were found hanging in their cells.A joint inquest into their deaths began hearing evidence in November last year, and a jury pointed to a series of missed opportunities, with two more prevention of future death reports issued this month, a new report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons found critical and ongoing failures in safety at the Woodhead said the recurring issues showed an inability by prison managers and staff to learn from previous mistakes and keep prisoners safe."When Kane's verdict came in, I was full of hope that we'd been heard, that things would change, and that other families wouldn't have to go [through] what we've gone through, but things haven't changed, because the same mistakes are being made," she said."The staff weren't filling in the forms properly, they weren't doing their handovers, the communication was diabolical, to the detriment of these three, and more that haven't come to [coroner's] court."She told the BBC that, at the time of Boyce's death, an appeal against his sentence was "going through"."He had everything to live for," Ms Woodhead added."We were going to be married, we'd planned our futures together - we'd planned everything." Ben Leapman, editor of Inside Time magazine, which is distributed to prisons, said the failures of Lowdham Grange in Boyce's case "raises concerns about the culture among staff at some prisons of declining to follow rules".He said other incidents at the jail "suggest that there is a bullying culture among officers at the prison which hasn't been tackled over time", and warned that problems around the handover of Lowdham before the deaths of Binfield, Richards and Karbauskas could be repeated."The handover from Serco to Sodexo at Lowdham Grange was the first time a UK prison had been handed over from one private operator to another, and it clearly proved disastrous," he said. "Serco chose to strip out staff and hand the prison over to Sodexo in a dangerous state. "Sodexo chose not to spend the extra money it would have needed to spend to make the prison safe. "The MoJ had oversight of the process but seemed unable or unwilling to intervene."Regarding failures over Boyce's death, Serco said: "Any death in custody is a tragedy and Serco remains committed to ensuring the safety of prisoners in our care."Following the conclusion of the recent inquest into three deaths which occurred at Lowdham Grange after our handover, Serco has issued a response to the coroner in relation to the concerns raised."A spokesperson for Sodexo said Lowdham Grange was "a prison with a unique set of challenges, both old and new" when it took over the site in February added: "We worked tirelessly and very closely with HM Prison and Probation Service at the time to seek to improve stability and deliver the significant improvements expected."Although Sodexo no longer runs Lowdham Grange, the spokesperson said it had "fully taken on board any learnings to continuously improve the safety and security of those who live and work at our prisons".The prison is now run by the MoJ, which took over management in December 2023 on a temporary basis before making it a permanent move in May last year.A spokesman said the department had "implemented numerous measures to improve safety and support at HMP Lowdham Grange, including increased staffing and enhanced training for our officers".While it comes too late for Boyce, Ms Woodhead said: "I understand that the general public aren't particularly interested in what goes on behind prison walls, but as a civilised society we all want the streets to be free of crime, and we want people to come out of prison rehabilitated."If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, you can visit the BBC Action Line.
BBC News
7 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
HMP Lowdham Grange branded 'unsafe' by inspectors
A prison where 10 inmates died in custody in a 19-month period has critical and ongoing failures in safety, inspectors have Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) visited HMP Lowdham Grange, in Nottinghamshire, between 3 and 14 March and found a rise in violent incidents and a high number of medical emergencies linked to a report released on Tuesday, inspectors said since the last inspection in August 2023 there had been 10 deaths in custody, four of which were suspected of being due to drug Ministry of Justice (MoJ), which took over running the prison from a private provider in December 2023 has been approached for comment. In the most recent visit, inspectors found the number of use of force incidents had trebled, violent incidents had increased, and the rate of self-harm was the third highest among the country's category B training prisons. They said compounding this was the ingress of illicit drugs, with 56% of prisoners surveyed saying it was easy to get hold of them, and 40.6% testing positive in random drug tests in the 10 months report stated that although a high number of medical emergencies were linked to drugs, health services were no longer providing round-the-clock care, were not meeting the needs of patients, and in some cases were unsafe. 'Fragile' improvements HMIP said the prison's response to recommendations made by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman was also inadequate and not all incidents of self-harm were recorded. Prisoners said there was inconsistency in the regime and prison systems, difficulty maintaining family ties and an inability to see health professionals were some of the triggers for December 2023, the government took over the running of the prison from a private provider before making the move permanent last said since the decision some improvements had been made but they were recent and fragile, and there were many longstanding concerns. It said 39% of prisoners surveyed said their experience in the jail would reduce their likelihood of re-offending, compared to 57% at the last inspection. Ultimately, the prison was failing to deliver its purpose as a training prison, it said. 'Healthcare overwhelmed' Inspection team leader Hindpal Bhui said: "The prison has had a number of problems over many years, and many of those have become worse by the time of this visit."A couple of years ago the contractor changed and this was mismanaged. The new contractor clearly didn't have enough staff to provide a safe prison."When we arrived the prison wasn't safe. There was a large amount of drugs getting into the establishment, leading to tragic cases of deaths in custody."We gave Lowdham Grange the worst possible scores on safety, respect and Bhui added: "It is a prison with high violence, lots of drugs getting in, lots of self-harm, and a healthcare service which is overwhelmed and unable to deal with the consequences of all those factors and that leads to fundamentally a dangerous prison."HM chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, added: "Although there were many challenges at Lowdham Grange, the new governor had established an understanding of the key issues that needed to be addressed, and inspectors left with some hope that the chaos seen at recent visits had started to subside."
BBC News
14-05-2025
- BBC News
Prisoner accused of breaching Emily Maitlis restraining order
A prisoner breached a restraining order by writing to television presenter Emily Maitlis from a jail, a court has Vines is on trial at Nottingham Crown Court, accused of breaching an order barring him from contacting the former BBC presenter, imposed by the same court, in said letters sent by Mr Vines, 54, included claims Ms Maitlis had been "scornful" to him during their friendship at were told that in a letter written to Ms Maitlis, who co-hosts The News Agents podcast, the defendant claimed he "regularly" suffers depression because their friendship ended, and has done for 30 years. The court heard Mr Vines is charged with three counts of breaching a restraining order and one count of attempting to breach a restraining order. The jury heard that the defendant sent envelopes addressed to the broadcaster and her parents, which were intercepted by prison staff at HMP Lowdham Grange in Nottinghamshire, where he was serving a Fergus Malone read letters to the court, posted by Mr Vines through the prison mailing system, which included Mr Vines saying he was "distraught" about the friendship ending, three months after he told Ms Maitlis he loved her, during their time at university in jury was told, in a letter dated in July 2023, addressed to Ms Maitlis, Mr Vines wrote: "I took the audacity of writing to you despite the restraining order because I'm still distraught about what took place between us in 1990."I regularly suffer depression over it and have for 30 years. I admit I'm not sure why I suffer so, but suffer I do." In a letter addressed to her mother, Mr Vines had described Ms Maitlis as "offish and scornful", the court the prosecution's case on Wednesday, Mr Malone told the jury: "The restraining order prohibited him [Mr Vines] from contacting Emily Maitlis, Marion Maitlis and Peter Maitlis. Emily Maitlis, you may have heard of, is a well-known broadcaster."The Crown's case is that the defendant wrote, addressed and posted letters whilst in prison to all three of those people between May 2023 and February 2024."Mr Vines was a serving prisoner at the time. "In this case, all the addressed and posted letters were intercepted by prison staff at Her Majesty's Prison Lowdham Grange."The likely issue in this case is whether the defendant, Mr Vines, had a reasonable excuse in law to breach the restraining order and that is a matter for him to present to you in due course."The prosecution also alleges that Mr Vines telephoned his brother in July 2023 and asked him to contact Marion trial continues.
BBC News
07-02-2025
- BBC News
Government fined at HMP Lowdham deaths inquest in 'extraordinary step'
A coroner has fined the government for failing to disclose evidence at an inquest into the deaths of three prisoners in Nottinghamshire. Laurinda Bower has been leading an inquest into the deaths of Anthony Binfield, Rolandas Karbauskas and David Richards in 2023 at HMP Lowdham Grange.A jury concluded that the trio, who all were found dead within a month of each other, died after "repeated failures" and "multiple missed opportunities" at the the inquest at Nottingham Coroner's Court, evidence came to a "grinding halt" on 6 January due to the Ministry of Justice's failure to meet numerous deadlines, and the fine - which can now be reported following the inquest's conclusion - of £500 was issued. Under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, a coroner can issue a schedule 5 notice to a person or body to disclose relevant information to an investigation. Coroners have the power to issue fines of up to £1,000 for failing without reasonable excuse to do anything required by such a notice. Ms Bower gave three notices to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to provide documents and information, including emails, between October and December 2024, but it failed to meet any of the 3 and 4 January, Ms Bower said the MoJ submitted a large volume of information, comprising more than 1,000 pages, ahead of the next hearing due to take place on 6 January. She was also told there was more to come. The MoJ was aware of the inquest and the scope of the investigation more than a year ago, Ms Bower said. "That was ample time to get their house in order," she added."It pains me to impose a financial penalty on a public body given the pressures on all public services at present, and it is the first time in this jurisdiction that it has been necessary for me to take this extraordinary step."She added the festive period was not a valid excuse for the delay. At the time, a legal representative for the government told the court the MoJ "apologises for the inconvenience caused". What has happened at HMP Lowdham Grange? The running of HMP Lowdham Grange was transferred from private provider Serco, to fellow private firm Sodexo in February 2023. It was the first prison transfer between two private providers in the UK. The inquest heard how the jail had longstanding problems with culture, safety and staffing, which continued and were exacerbated during the handover period. After the deaths of three inmates in March 2023, an unannounced inspection of Lowdham Grange found a number of failings - and the government subsequently took over the prison on an interim basis in December. This became a permanent arrangement the following May. There have been more deaths in custody at the prison since the deaths of Binfield, Karbauskas and Richards, including several during the inquest period since November, the court was told. What happened at the inquest? At the court, Ms Bower said she wrote to all parties in April 2023, including the MoJ, saying she was minded to link the inquests of the three inmates and that by January 2024, it would have been aware of the "need and scope of an inquest".She said she received a response from the government's legal department on 26 January to point out that the prison was run by Sodexo at the time of the deaths, and asked Ms Bower whether the MoJ should be considered an interested person (IP). "Knowing what I know about the intrinsic role senior members of the [MoJ] personnel played in the checks and balances of safety at the prison and in the transition period shortly before these deaths, it is staggering that the [MoJ] were questioning whether they required IP status - let alone the fact they were not actively seeking out IP status to assist my inquest," she added the MoJ's response to the inquest had been "reactive, and slow at that and not at all proactive". A legal representative for the MoJ said: "It is accepted there has been a failure to comply with the schedule 5 notices and the MoJ apologises to the court and to the other interested persons for the inconvenience caused by this."She added there had been an "incredible amount of work being undertaken to attempt to comply" with the notices, and added that lessons were being learned both in this case and for future cases. She added the financial penalty would serve "no useful purpose".The MoJ was given 28 days to pay the £500 penalty. Ms Bower said she could not think of proceedings that required "a greater level of candour and due diligence than these", adding the MoJ had been given "chance after chance".
