Prison praised for dedication to education

INMATES at a prison near Yarm can join the Park Run, make cards and design mugs, and take part in 'trauma' yoga, as a new report gives an insight into life behind the walls of the category D jail.

- By POPPY KENNEDY

HMP Kirklevington Grange is designed to prepare prisoners for release via education, accommodation and giving them the best chance at gaining employment when they rejoin the community.

With an operational capacity of 207 prisoners, the category D jail, also known as an open jail, has minimal security and allows eligible prisoners to spend most of their day away from the prison on licence for work, education or for other resettlement purposes.

In a recent Independent Monitoring Board inspection, the prison was praised for the respectful attitude staff and prisoners have for each other. Inspectors say this is evident in the calm atmosphere and the number of joint activities between staff and prisoners.

However, the board has highlighted areas of improvement, such as the lack of visible progress on the development of replacement accommodation units under the rapid deployment cell programme.

Without this, the prison's capacity continues to be below the optimum level, which affects the ability of the establishment to introduce more prisoners to outside paid employment.

The accommodation at HMP Kirklevington Grange was described as "basic and tired in places". Bathroom and shower facilities are rudimentary, and the shower enclosures are small. The issue with bed-bug infestations continued, despite best efforts of managers, who followed established protocols. This was contained to a few units, with regular visits by a pest control team. However, it was not fully resolved, said the report, which looks at the 2024 calendar year.