Progress at prison praised

Low Newton became a female prison in 1998

Inspectors have praised a County Durham women's prison - but say it faces future challenges.

The report on Low Newton, near Durham City, follows an unannounced inspection in July.

It found the prison has continued to improve, but also faces a challenge if it is to carry on that progress as it expands.

The size of the prison is set to grow by a third, increasing the capacity to nearly 400.

Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers said: "Our last inspection report commended the 'enormous progress in the proper treatment of women prisoners' that had been achieved at Low Newton, describing it as one of the few success stories in local prisons holding adult and young women.

"It is encouraging to report that this remains the case. Indeed we record considerable progress on the recommendations made since our previous full inspection. This clearly reflects well on staff and management.

"But sustaining this progress will be enormously challenging given the prospective expansion of the establishment, and the particular care and attention that some vulnerable female offenders require if they are to be kept from harming themselves.

This clearly reflects well on staff and management Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers

"The establishment's positive staff-prisoner relationships will give it a head start in meeting these challenges; but they will need to continue to be supported by active management and clear systems."

The inspectors focused in particular on the issues of suicide and self-harm in light of increases in other parts of the women's prison system.

They said they found a generally safe environment and commended the quality of staff-and-prisoner relationships.

The report said there have been no recent suicides at Low Newton, but there has been at least one serious case of self-harm, and therefore there was no room for complacency especially as numbers rise.

They said there was a good platform to build from, but extra measures were needed to ensure the safe environment was maintained including the development of an anti-bullying strategy.

Closed visits

Inspectors said they found Low Newton was a mutually respectful environment and staff treated prisoners as individuals.

But they found more could be done to improve the facilities and regime for young women prisoners.

One concern was that visitors, including children, were subject to excessive use of closed visits behind screens following uncorroborated "indications" by a drug dog that a visitor may have been in contact with drugs.

Other areas praised were access to activities, education facilities and the prison's increased focus on resettlement and reintegration.

Low Newton became a female prison in 1998 in response to the rise in the female prison population.