National Preventive Mechanism Eleventh Annual Report 2019–20
Introduction
by John Wadham,
NPM Chair
In the National Preventive Mechanism’s
(NPM) 11th Annual Report, covering the
reporting year 2019 to 2020, we present
an overview of the political, policy and
legislative developments regarding places of
detention and deprivation of liberty. We bring
together NPM members’ findings from the
year on the different areas of detention
that they monitor. We also document key
developments for NPM members and the
NPM Secretariat, and highlight important
international events that have taken place,
such as the first ever visit from the UN’s
Subcommittee for Prevention of Torture and
Committee Against Torture’s periodic review
of the UK.
Members’ findings on places of detention
from the year show a mixed picture.
With regard to prisons, NPM members in
Scotland identified a number of human rights
issues, including levels of overcrowding
and understaffing, that caused significant
concern. Criminal Justice Inspection Northern
Ireland (CJINI) and the Regulation and Quality
Improvement Authority (RQIA) this year
published a thematic review on the safety of
prisoners, which identified some important
improvements in how vulnerable prisoners
are treated. Drugs remained a problem across
the Northern Ireland prison estate. In England
and Wales, NPM members found poor levels
1
4
of safety in many prisons. I am especially
concerned about the rate of self-harm among
prisoners: incidents reached yet another record
high in England and Wales of 64,552 in the
12 months to March 2020, up 11% (57,968
incidents) from the 12 months to March 2019.1
NPM members also raised concerns about
the detention of people with a mental
health problem, a learning disability and/
or autism. The Care Quality Commission’s
(CQC) interim report on the subject found
that many services were unable to meet
the needs of patients as staff lacked the
necessary training and skills. Worryingly, a
high proportion of the patients CQC visited
were held in segregation. Healthcare
Inspectorate Wales (HIW) also found that
some secure mental health facilities in Wales
had serious maintenance issues which had
not been addressed, resulting in patients
living in unsafe and undignified conditions.
Our Annual Report also notes positive
developments that have occurred
across the detention estate. In particular,
the NPM welcomes the announcement
of an independent public inquiry into
the allegations of abuse at Brook House
Immigration Removal Centre. Similarly,
the NPM supports the Scottish Government’s
commitment to conduct an inquiry into the
Ministry of Justice (MoJ), July 2020, Safety in Custody Statistics, England and Wales: Deaths in Prison Custody to June 2020
Assaults and Self-harm to March 2020, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/
attachment_data/file/905064/safety-in-custody-q1-2020.pdf [accessed 10/11/2020]; MoJ, July 2019, Safety in Custody
Statistics, England and Wales: Deaths in Prison Custody to June 2019 Assaults and Self-harm to March 2019, https://assets.
publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/820627/safety-in-custody-q1-2019.
pdf [accessed 10/11/2020]