Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service conduct regular audits of prisons which include examining whether staff employed on adjudication duties are properly trained and competent to carry out these procedures. It also reviews whether or not governors are reviewing the conduct of adjudications to ensure that they are fair, lawful and just, that punishments are normally within locally published guidelines and proportionate, and that no prisoner is charged or punished for any other reason than their disciplinary behaviour.

Any deficiencies feature in the audit report and contribute to the overall audit rating for the establishment. Prison Group Directors also use the audit report to monitor any remedial action and challenge poor practice.

Figures are held by the department from 2014 onwards and are included below.

Concerted Indiscipline is defined as an incident involving two or more prisoners acting against the requirements or the regime of the establishment.

Not every Concerted Indiscipline relates to a violent incident as these figures include both passive acts of protest such as “sit down protests” as well as active incidents such as violent disorder.

2014 – 164

2015 – 196

2016 – 210

2017 – 233

2018 – 140

We do not tolerate violence or disruptive behaviour in our prisons. This is why we’ve recruited 4,300 additional officers and are spending an extra £70m on safety, security and the fabric of the prison estate. Drugs are a major factor in fuelling violence in prisons, and this investment will help fund a range of new security measures to stop them getting in, including airport style security, improved searching techniques and phone-blocking technology. We are also committed to ensuring our prison officers have the tools they need to do the job safely by rolling out body worn cameras, ‘police-style’ handcuffs and restraints, and PAVA incapacitant spray. Fundamentally, however, the key to safe prisons is the relationships between prisoners and prison officers, which is why we are investing in training and support for officers to further develop a consistent, disciplined and humane approach to behaviour management.

Discipline procedures are central to the maintenance of a safe, decent and rehabilitative custodial environment. They require adjudications to be conducted lawfully, fairly and justly. Only Independent Adjudicators, who are District Judges or Deputy District Judges, can, in cases deemed to be sufficiently serious, make an award of additional days. All prisoners have a full opportunity to hear what is alleged against them and to present their case. Young or vulnerable prisoners, who may lack experience of adjudications, are encouraged to request help from an advocate. The most serious offences are referred to the police.

The table below provides statistics on the number of young adult prisoners awarded additional days at HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Doncaster following proven adjudications between 2013 and 2017:

Table 1: Number of unique offenders in HMYOI Doncaster by number of accumulated Additional Days Awarded following proven adjudications, 2013 to 2017⁽¹⁾

(1) Note that HMP and YOI Doncaster is currently holding remand and sentenced young offenders and adult male prisoners. Therefore the table provides the number of prisoners aged between 18 and 20 and excludes all those aged above.

Data sources and quality

The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

As stated in my response to PQs 131225 and 131226, we are currently considering proposals to publish information routinely on concerted indiscipline and incidents at height and will confirm such plans when a decision has been reached. We would not want to undermine these considerations by publishing the information at this stage of the process.

I can confirm that there have been no Incidents at HMP Bedford since January 2018 requiring a response from Tornado Teams.

We are currently considering proposals to publish information routinely on concerted indiscipline and incidents at height and will confirm such plans when a decision has been reached.

Discipline procedures are central to the maintenance of a safe, decent and rehabilitative custodial environment. They are provided for by The Prison Rules 1999 and the Young Offender Institution Rules 2000, which require adjudications to be conducted lawfully, fairly and justly. Independent Adjudicators are District Judges or Deputy District Judges who attend prisons and young offender institutions when necessary to hear those adjudication cases which are deemed to be sufficiently serious. If found guilty, such cases may merit an award of additional days to a person’s time spent in custody. Only Independent Adjudicators can make an award of additional days. The most serious offences will be referred to the Police.

Information on the number of occasions additional days were awarded to prisoners in each prison, as a result of an adjudication, between 2010 and 2015 can be found in the attached table. It also provides information on the total number of days awarded in each prison for the same period.

Information on adjudication punishments at each prison for 2017 is due to be published on 26 April 2018 and therefore is not available yet. Information for 2016 is available in the published Offender Management Statistics bulletin by selecting CSV dataset and variable guide (zip) and Punishments2016.csv at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2016

This information is not held centrally, to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.

The information requested is not held centrally.