A Prison Inspectorate report on HMP Warren Hill has raised concern at the prison’s high recall rate, with nearly 50% of prisoners released in the past two years being recalled.

The reason for the high recall rate was attributed in the report to substance misuse and not enough being done to improve preparation for release. With the majority of prisoners at Warren Hill serving life sentences, the institution is expected to provide programs that prepare long-serving prisoners for resettlement in the community after release. However, there is a lack of capacity for some of the more innovative approaches to support reintegration.

The continued suspension of release on temporary licence was also identified as a major gap in reducing the recall rate. According to Pia Sinha, the chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, the ability to allow prisoners to be released on a temporary licence  ‘is one way in which prisoners can be supported to make a success of their resettlement by enabling them to re-establish contact with family and sort out housing and employment prior to release.’

Two other priority concerns identified by the inspection included inadequate health care services available for prisoners and a deficiency in relations with employers to hire released prisoners. Despite initiatives within Warren Hill to prepare prisoners for the workforce, released prisoners still struggled to secure work opportunities.

Despite the recall rate, Warren Hill received a positive report overall praising it for ‘impressively strong and supportive culture’. The report rated three out of four of the healthy prison outcomes tests as good for safety, respect, and preparation for release, and reasonably good for purposeful activity. In 2018 the prison was reported as being ‘Britain’s best’.

The report did highlight positive initiatives that support prisoner rehabilitation. It praised the ‘virtual village’, consisting of a peer-run café and a well-stocked shop, that ‘gave prisoners some normality and an opportunity for more independent living’. The availability of various peer support roles, including a debt-reduction mentor to offer budgeting and mediation, was another notable positive practice.