Safety has been flagged as a serious concern at a Nottinghamshire prison for a second year running, following three apparently self-inflicted deaths in three weeks. In an annex to its 2022-3 report, the Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) flagged a number of problems at HMP Lowdham Grange, alerting ministers to its concerns following the prison's change of management.
According to the report's annex, there were three deaths, within three weeks of the prison's change of management to Sodexo, with these deaths now under investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. The original report covered the period from February 1, 2022 to January 31, 2023, when the prison was operated by Serco. Sodexo took over in February 2023.
In its annual report, covering the period before the change of management, the board noted that safety at the prison had deteriorated for the second year running, drugs were a continuing problem, a significant number of improvised weapons were discovered, the prison's staff shortages impacted on meaningful activities, and that once prisoners were released directly from HMP Lowdham Grange, there was no specialist rehabilitation and resettlement resources.
