HMP Birmingham in an appalling state, Chief Inspector of Prisons warned in 2018

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke invoked the Urgent Notification process at HMP Birmingham in August 2018. He acted after inspectors found a prison that was fundamentally unsafe. He wrote that the treatment of prisoners and the conditions in which they were held “were among the worst we have seen in recent years”.

An Urgent Notification is a formal letter in which the Chief Inspector of Prisons tells the Justice Secretary about urgent and significant concerns at a prison. The Justice Secretary must respond publicly within 28 days, setting out how the concerns will be addressed.

Peter Clarke wrote to the Secretary of State on 16 August 2018. His letter followed an unannounced inspection between 30 July and 9 August 2018. Under the protocol with the Ministry of Justice, he had to write within seven calendar days of the inspection ending.

Poor in every test

Inspectors assess prisons against four healthy prison tests: safety, respect, purposeful activity, and rehabilitation and release planning. At Birmingham they judged outcomes poor, the lowest assessment, in all four. Peter Clarke noted that this was only the second time the inspectorate had made such judgements.

Birmingham was a category B local prison serving the courts of Birmingham and the wider West Midlands. G4S had run it under contract since 1 October 2011, and this was the fourth inspection while the company was in charge. It could hold up to 1,450 men, from those recently remanded to men serving significant sentences. At the time of the inspection it held 1,262, with G wing temporarily closed. Most prisoners had been there for three months or less.

Inspectors had last visited in February 2017, two months after a major disturbance. At that time they found a prison still reeling but determined to recover and rebuild. Peter Clarke said the contrast in 2018 could not have been starker. “Far from recovering, the prison had deteriorated dramatically and was in an appalling state,” he wrote.

Put simply, the treatment of prisoners and the conditions in which they were held at Birmingham were among the worst we have seen in recent years.

Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons

Fear, drugs and violence

Peter Clarke described an institution where many prisoners and staff lived and worked in fear. Drug taking was barely concealed, delinquency was rife and individuals could behave badly with near impunity. Control in the prison was tenuous.

In the inspectorate’s survey, 71% of prisoners said they had felt unsafe at some point at Birmingham. The prison had recorded more violent incidents than any other similar prison.

Drugs were widely available. One in two prisoners said it was easy to get illicit drugs. In the previous six months, health staff had attended 311 incidents linked to new psychoactive substances.

Peter Clarke wrote that staff were poorly led, and that many lacked the confidence or competence to retrieve the situation. A third of prisoner custody officers, 33%, had less than 12 months’ service.

Squalor and failure to prepare for release

Many prisoners lived in squalor. Peter Clarke wrote that the prison did little to occupy prisoners adequately.

He also found the prison failing to protect the public, because it did not prepare prisoners adequately for release. Around 200 men left Birmingham each month.

The prison combined Victorian wings, built in 1849, with more modern accommodation. Its 11 residential wings included a first night centre, a detoxification unit and a social care unit. Other wings held older prisoners, sex offenders and other vulnerable prisoners.

Inertia and a call for honesty

Peter Clarke said a lack of confidence in the prison’s ability to improve was a factor in his decision. He also cited the prison’s failure to implement earlier inspectorate recommendations. At the 2017 inspection, inspectors had made 70 recommendations.

Perhaps most importantly, he pointed to inertia among those responsible for monitoring and managing the contracts. The same inertia seemed to grip those meant to deliver action on the ground. He called for an honest appraisal of how the prison had slipped into crisis. He asked why those responsible had not seen the problems unfolding, or had seemed incapable of acting decisively when they did.

Peter Clarke acknowledged that the challenges facing the prison were huge and that managers and staff needed support to turn it around. He said those carrying out any improvement plan must also be accountable. He called for transparent, open conversations about the state of the prison and the progress made. He warned that improvement would undoubtedly take some time.

Inspectors have reported on HMP Birmingham several times since. A scrutiny visit followed in February 2021, a full inspection report in May 2023 and an independent review of progress in August 2026.