HMP Garth did some good work with very challenging prisoners, but further improvements can be made, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, publishing the report of an unannounced short follow-up inspection of the Lancashire training jail. 

HMP Garth holds long-term life-sentenced prisoners, determinate sentenced prisoners serving four years and over and prisoners on indeterminate sentences for public protection who have committed serious and violent offences. Since its last inspection, the prison had made sufficient progress across the healthy prison tests of safety, respect and purposeful activity but not in resettlement. 

Inspectors were pleased to find that: 

• the prison remained fundamentally safe overall;
• investigations into serious self-harm incidents were good and few prisoners were subject to suicide and self-harm monitoring procedures;
• a range of suitable tactics were used to reduce the supply of drugs and illicit alcohol; 
• personal officers and offender supervisors knew what was expected of them and there was some good personal officer work; 
• positive efforts had been made to address the needs of older prisoners and those with disabilities; 
• health care provision was generally good; 
• prisoner participation in part-time education had increased; and
• public protection work remained good and there had been improvements to some of the resettlement pathways. 

However, inspectors had some concerns: 

• D1 unit held some prisoners with mental health problems alongside those needing protection from debts or gang affiliation, but had moved away from its previous focus on rehabilitation and its current purpose was unclear;
• strip-searching automatically included squat-searches, the grounds for which were not always appropriate;
• planned use of force needed to be better monitored for quality and training purposes;
• although most workshops offered qualifications, learning progression was limited; and
• services in support of the children and families resettlement pathway needed to improve. 

Nick Hardwick said:  

'Sufficient progress has been made in all healthy prison areas at Garth, with the exception of resettlement, which is let down by the lack of progress on any recommendations made under the children and families pathway. We are aware of plans to address some of the shortfalls but it is disappointing that the prison has not acted more proactively to improve these services.'

Michael Spurr, Chief Executive Officer of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), said:  

'This is an encouraging report on a prison which is doing some good work with a challenging population. 

'I am pleased that the Chief Inspector has noted progress in three of the four healthy prison tests. We are committed to providing prisoners with effective resettlement support and the Governor will ensure that the areas of concern identified in the report are properly addressed.'

1. View a copy of the report.
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. This unannounced short follow-up inspection was carried out from 3-5 April 2012. 
4. HMP Garth is a category B male training prison, holding long-term life-sentenced prisoners, prisoners on indeterminate sentences for public protection and determinate sentenced prisoners serving four years or over.
5. Please contact Jane Parsons in HMI Prisons Press Office on 0207 035 2123 or 07880 787452 if you would like more information or to request an interview with Nick Hardwick.