HMP Millsike: super prison's opening was 'unsafe' and empty cells continue over 'chronic shortage of staff'
Some 18 months after opening, HMP Millsike continues to have hundreds of empty cells with inspectors saying it is unsafe to ramp up capacity further.
The UK’s newest “super prison”, near York, was unsafe and unprepared on opening and will continue to operate with hundreds of empty cells due to the “chronic shortage of staff”, a damning inspection report has found.
However, 18 months later it is still not up to full capacity, with hundreds of cells left empty, and prison assessors say it will need to continue this way otherwise safety will be compromised.
The Independent Monitoring Board at HMP Millsike - which is formed of members of the community who report back on safety to the Government - published its annual report today, which found the prison’s opening was “chaotic”.
It said this has been “a very challenging year for Mitie Care & Custody”, the private contractor which is operating a penitentiary for the first time, as well as the prison’s staff and prisoners.
The IMB said that the contract was awarded late due to procurement issues and the mobilisation period was slashed from 18 months to a year.
The board’s Millsike chair, Rebecca Major, said: “It’s a challenge to set up a new prison and even more so for Mitie who are new to prison management.
“The board found that HMP Millsike was unready, understaffed and unsafe.
“In our view, some of the difficulties stemmed from inadequacies in Mitie’s mobilisation team. Either they underestimated the task or were not sufficiently experienced to take it on.
“Since then we’ve started to see improvements, but underlying difficulties remain. Many of them stem from a chronic shortfall of officers.
“The site is out in the sticks, which makes both recruiting and holding on to staff difficult.
“Experience is everything when running a prison, and the lack of it impacts on everything.”
The report found that staff left for numerous different reasons which “included officers not being paid and excessive unpredictable hours being worked”.
She was replaced in the interim by the highly experienced Paul Newton, who inspectors said oversaw a considerable improvement. Now, Sarah Mallander, who was previously the boss of Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre, is in charge.
The IMB said that new prisoner intake was paused when Ms Pariser stood down, and “this should have continued until the prison is sufficiently staffed with experienced officers”.
Ms Major added: “However, this has not been the case and HMP Millsike is continuing to be pressed to take prisoners in line with its contract and a concerningly low level of officers.”
She said that it would “revert to being the unsafe, unfair, and unhappy community we found last year” unless prisoner numbers are carefully managed.
Mitie said that it currently has 80 new prison officers progressing through its onboarding process.
A spokesperson said: “While we value the Independent Monitoring Board's oversight, we do not believe its description of the prison at the time it opened, as being a fair or accurate reflection of the conditions at HMP Millsike.
“Since the prison opened, the overriding objective of our colleagues, working in challenging circumstances, has been to ensure that those within our care are treated with decency and respect, whilst creating a safe and secure environment that supports rehabilitation.
“We welcome the recognition of the improvements made since opening.
“The report highlights progress in operational stability, safety, healthcare provision, reception processes and complaint handling, as well as examples of ‘excellent work’ by our prison officers.
“We continue to work closely with HM Prison and Probation Service, the Ministry of Justice and the Independent Monitoring Board as the prison works towards full capacity.”
The MoJ declined to comment.