Case Study on HMP Ranby

Ranby is a category C male adult training prison. Converted in the early 1970s from its original use as an Army camp, some old billets still remain. Some purpose built accommodation added in 1980s. Two new wings opened in February 1996 and two new wings opened in Summer 1998. The address is Retford, Notts, DN22 8EU

Tel: 01777 862 000 Fax: 01777 862 001 Governor: Louise Taylor
Operational Capacity: 1038 as of 31st January 2006 Accommodation: Cells / cubicles

  • A wing is a 2-storey building built in July 1983 with spurred single cell accommodation and has places for 192 prisoners, including a drug free unit.
  • B wing consists of 8 refurbished army billets, holding 77 prisoners. This is part of the Enhanced regime and in addition to the separate TV rooms on each billet, there is a separate Snooker/Games Room.
  • D, E, F and G wings have a mixture of single and double cells with integral sanitation for 116 on each wing prisoners.
  • H Wing has accommodation for 40 prisoners on drug rehab in cells with integral shower and toilet.
  • I Wing offers accommodation for 40 enhanced status prisoners in single cells with integral shower and toilet.
  • J and K Wings accommodate 180 prisoners in a mixture of single and double cells some of which are constructed to safer cell standards.

Reception Criteria: Ranby does not impose any reception criteria based upon length of sentence. However, we usually take prisoners who have at least 3 months left to serve after arrival.

The Prison Service News gave no information about interesting developments at Ranby but the Nottinghamshire LSC Area provided a report of the following work on Skills for life training facilitated by Jo Small.

HMP Ranby is a Category C training prison receiving prisoners from a wide range of allocating prisons within the East Midlands and Yorkshire. The prison has a strong industrial provision including land based, woodwork, plastic injection moulding and assembly work, industrial cleaning, polymer processing and operations and various PE programmes.

The initial meeting with the Head of Learning and Skills (HoLS), Sue Bance, involved discussions as to how she could best further a whole organisation approach to Skills for Life within the prison by raising staff awareness of learners’ needs. We decided upon a series of workshops involving staff from several areas of the prison including Programmes, Education, Workshops and PE. Workshop sessions included the themes of embedded learning, differentiation, initial assessment and resources to support learners. The key element was that these workshops were to be as inclusive as possible and demonstrate ways in which all staff could support learning regardless of their background in Skills for Life.

The workshops took place in early 2006 and were led by the Skills for Life Quality Initiative facilitator, Jo Small. Over 25 staff attended each workshop and the levels of interest were so high that there was a waiting list in case people were unable to attend. Sue’s enthusiasm and dedication to her role within the prison were certainly central to the high numbers but staff were keen to find out ways in which they could support learning in their own particular environments.

All staff were enthused by the sessions and often surprised not only at the barriers faced by learners but also at how easily they could provide them with support. The sessions also made more staff aware of the support that Education could offer them, not only in embedding schemes of work but also in adapting resources and offering general support for learners. David Farrah from Education also received a great deal of support for his development of a generic ILP to be used across all areas of the prison.

At the end of the final workshop session it was felt that the momentum of the workshops and the enthusiasm of staff should be harnessed in some way. We decided to form a ‘Swap Shop’ whose main focus would be to support learners throughout the prison. The first Swap Shop entitled ‘Dealing with Downtime’ took place on 24th July and several delegates from previous workshop sessions were invited.

The aim of this first Swap Shop was to provide staff with ideas and facilities for ensuring that offenders were always able to use their time productively i.e. if there was little production taking in a workshop at a particular time. The Skills for Life Quality Initiative facilitator provided support for the HoLS by demonstrating various educational quizzes and games that can support literacy and numeracy skills of learners. Sue has also put together a resources bank that staff can now access for their learners at any time.

HMP Ranby has made great progress in its move towards a whole organisation approach to Skills for Life. A wide number of staff are now much more aware of how learning can supported in any environment and are keen to link up with Education. In addition, there has been widespread support for the Swap Shop facility as well as this opportunity to network with staff from all over the prison and share experiences of supporting learners.

HMP Ranby was last inspected in March 2007. The introduction to the inspection report indicated that the inspectors were impressed that purposeful activity spaces had kept pace with the expansion in population. Time out of cell remained generally good, and the vast majority of prisoners were employed. There was a wide range of good quality education and vocational training places. It was, therefore, disappointing that procedures for allocation to work and education did not maximise these advantages, lacked transparency and were not linked to sentence planning. Access to PE and the library had also recently been interrupted by staff shortages.

Learning and skills and work activities, reported under section 5 of the report gave more detailed information, of which the following extracts are relevant to the education provision.

5.1 There had been a significant development of the workshops since our last inspection, and many provided work opportunities to industry standards. Around 30% of prisoners were engaged in accredited learning or training. Education provided a suitable curriculum. Participation in literacy and numeracy had widened and classes were available across the prison; however, support in workshops remained inadequate. The labour allocation process lacked transparency and was not integrated with sentence planning. Eighty per cent of prisoners were allocated to full-time work; poor monitoring of the unemployed population made it difficult to determine the need for additional workplaces. Prisoners had poor perceptions of the opportunities available to them at Ranby. The library was a good resource but several sessions had been cancelled since January 2007.

5.2 The current head of learning and skills had been appointed in July 2006, and the learning and skills agenda had become more recognised across the prison. At the time of the inspection, around 30% of prisoners were engaged in some form of accredited learning or training. There had been significant development of the workshops to bring training of skills up to industry standards, and there was some positive and productive work with external employers. The strategy aimed to develop the provision and resources to enable further activities and to make Ranby a good training prison.

5.3 West Nottingham College had held the education contract since August 2006. Although the college had been new to prison education and training, there had been excellent collaboration with the head of learning and skills and head of reducing re-offending to address the improvement of the provision. The education department accommodated 100 prisoners morning and afternoon, mainly on a part-time basis. Teaching sessions were well managed and the relationships between teachers and prisoners were friendly and respectful.

5.4 The range of the curriculum was suitable for the average length of stay. Literacy, numeracy and language, a very wide range of social and life skills, and information and communications technology (ICT) were available, and many prisoners developed good skills. Managers had taken effective action to widen participation in literacy and numeracy, and dedicated classes had been established across several areas of the prison, including residential wings. No prisoners had gained qualifications in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) because the emphasis in teaching was – sensibly in our view – to improve learners’ communication skills rather than prepare them for tests. There was no evening or weekend education.

5.9 The standard of work in many industrial workshops was high, and prisoners produced finished components to good industrial standards. In engineering, prisoners demonstrated high levels of skill and competence in the use of tools and advanced machinery. In the woodwork training area, prisoners worked confidently and competently with hand and power tools. In the data workshop, prisoners developed skills in a range of standard software applications, and some produced high quality colour posters and booklets for the prison. In the textiles workshop, many prisoners demonstrated good skills in the operation of machines.

5.10 There was, however, insufficient recognition of the skills and knowledge gained in the workshops, and too few prisoners had achieved recognised and relevant qualifications. National vocational qualification (NVQs) had recently been introduced in catering, and some prisoners were nearing completion. In engineering, a welding qualification was to be introduced; however, this would not provide recognition for most of the work carried out in engineering and there had been no progress in introducing an appropriate NVQ. In plastics, an NVQ was available but only a few prisoners had made adequate progress towards achieving this. The lack of links with sentence planning meant that not all training activities were planned with a progression towards achievement.

5.16 Since our last inspection, the library had moved to a purpose-built area within the main education building. This offered a spacious, comfortable and welcoming environment, and prisoners who visited the library were encouraged to sit and read there. An area had been set aside for private study, but the computers were not yet installed and the supervision of this facility was to be resolved. A maximum of 15 prisoners at a time were allowed in the library. A security system was due to be introduced to reduce the high level of book loss (estimated at 15% a year.)

5.17 At 13,000, the library's book stock was above national guidelines. There was a wide range of books and other resources to meet the needs of prisoners, although there had been no prisoner survey since 2001 and prisoner user group meetings had not taken place for some time. The range of foreign language texts and newspapers largely reflected the population. In addition to the inter-library loan system, the librarian had access to an extensive supply of fiction and non-fiction in many languages through an independent rental scheme called Bright Books. The librarian had a close working relationship with education staff and attended some education meetings to seek advice about the books prisoners needed to support learning. Relevant legal books and Prison Service orders were available, and library staff advised prisoners about further sources of information or, where possible, helped them with the more technical jargon.

5.18 In theory, all prisoners had adequate access to the library; two wings were allocated each day with sessions scheduled for the morning, afternoon and evening. However, the attendance records showed that 18 sessions, many of them in the evening, had been cancelled since January 2007. This meant that many prisoners could not predict when they would next visit the library. Around 30% of prisoners were active library users. Prisoners who went to education could call into the library, and this may have contributed to the higher proportion of black and minority ethnic and foreign national respondents to our survey who said they went to the library at least once a week.

Recommendations

5.19 The system for allocating prisoners to activities should be more transparent and linked to the sentence planning process.
5.20 Literacy and numeracy support in workshops should be developed further.
5.21 The working week for prisoners should be extended to five days and better reflect
working environments in the community.
5.22 Prisoners should have access to good information, advice and guidance services to
help them make the best of their time at Ranby and develop realistic plans for their
future work or learning.
5.23 Library staff should formally seek the views of prisoners about the book stock and
library facilities.
5.24 Cancellations of library sessions should be reduced, and there should be an effective
strategy to maximise prisoner access to and use of the library.

The section of the report on physical education and health promotion contained the following relevant sections.

5.27 The physical education department was staffed by one senior officer, 11 physical education officers and an administrator. Resources were good and consisted of two large sports halls, one on the closed side and one on the open side of the prison; two weight training areas with free weights and modular equipment; one cardiovascular training area; an NVQ training centre; rehabilitation unit (see paragraph 4.27); and outdoor sports field with football and rugby pitches and cricket square. Activities included weight training, badminton, tennis, football, circuits and volleyball. Specialist fit clubs and walking-to-health programmes were also available. There were specialist games and sessions for older prisoners, but there had been poor take-up of these. Older prisoners could also participate in general activities.

5.28 All prisoners completed the standard induction to the gym facilities as part of general induction programme. PE staff made satisfactory assessments of individuals based on questioning and reported health questionnaires. There were designated PE prisoner representatives on each wing, and the department undertook twice-yearly surveys of prisoners’ views about the PE provision.

5.29 Through the Options scheme (see paragraph 5.12), prisoners on both sides of the prison had at least three opportunities a week to access the gym. However, there was a wide variance in this, and it was linked to the incentives and earned privileges scheme, which encouraged prisoners to move to the open side of the prison. Prisoners on the closed side who attended education could only go to the gym on one evening a week, while prisoners on the open side could spend nine sessions a week there. This was reflected in our prisoner survey, where more respondents on A and B wings than in the prison generally said they went to the gym at least twice a week.

5.30 The gym programme was under review but at the time of the inspection no recreational PE was offered on Friday afternoon or at the weekends. The weekends were reserved for team sports, which included outside teams who came into Ranby to play league games. However, due to the redeployment of the two gym staff, several such weekend fixtures had been cancelled. This was disappointing for the prisoners involved, incurred a financial penalty, and was not good public relations for the prison.

5.31 Prisoners were provided with gym kit and towels and suitable bags to carry their kit to the gym. Showers and changing facilities were available in both gyms, but the changing facilities in the old gym (open side) were cramped with inadequate space for prisoners to dry and dress after showering.

5.32 Overall, achievement on the accredited PE programmes was satisfactory, and prisoners demonstrated good knowledge and skills development. Every six months, 20 prisoners were selected to join the popular full-time PE course. The selection process was appropriate and based on the individual’s drive and enthusiasm rather than his academic ability. Two prisoners had been enrolled on the NVQ level three teaching, coaching and instructing programme, one of whom was the first prisoner in the prison estate to successfully complete the award. One of the PE officers was the nominated community links officer and worked with resettlement staff to identify potential work opportunities for course graduates on release.

Recommendations for PE are as follows:

5.33 More recreational PE should be available.
5.34 Scheduled team fixtures at weekends should not be cancelled.
5.35 The changing facilities in the open side gym should be improved.

The inspectors also look at aspects of faith and religious activity that can make a contribution to educational provision.

5.41 The chaplaincy team was involved in family liaison work following all deaths in custody, and in supporting prisoners who had experienced bereavement. The team also actively supported prisoners on reception and in segregation, visiting these areas each day, but were not involved in safer custody work. They did not routinely attend relevant prison meetings, and did not play a full part in the day-to-day running of the establishment. The team hosted a weekly Alcoholics Anonymous session, and delivered a loss and bereavement course when requested. However, such work was limited and the team could have offered more structured support in areas such as family relationships and restoration.

Recommendation

5.45 The range of group-based sessions run by the chaplaincy should be expanded to
address identified gaps, such as family relationships and restoration.