23 May 2012
During a routine inspection
HMP Isle of Wight was officially launched on 1 April 2009 and is the organisational amalgamation of the former HMP's Albany, Camp Hill, and Parkhurst. The prison holds approximately 1700 prisoners on the three sites with a central administration.
Camp Hill is a closed category C training prison holding adult men on short, medium and long term sentences.
Parkhurst is a category B training prison for adult male prisoners, and also holds a small number of un-convicted adult male prisoners awaiting trial at courts on the Isle of Wight.
Albany is a category B training prison.
The inspection was conducted jointly with staff from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP). Prisoners were spoken to individually, in small groups whilst waiting at the health centres and in larger formal groups that covered the full range of prison life including healthcare.
There was considerable praise for the mental health services. Prisoners commented that they had received swift treatment when they had begun to self harm. There was a small number of adverse comments about the time taken to access mental health services.
There were mixed views on the provision of physical health.
A number of prisoners complained that the waiting time to see a doctor was too long, they said between two weeks and three months. Some said that the appointments' system was unreliable. Prisoners were sometimes not taken to appointments, where an escort was required, or sometimes they did not receive appointment slips.
Other prisoners had nothing but praise for the healthcare on offer with comments like 'the best I have ever seen' and 'they have got it right' being the norm.