Following a three-week inquest at the Nottingham Coroner’s Court, a jury has found that HMP Lowdham Grange in Nottinghamshire was “overwhelmed” when three prisoners were found hanging in their cells in March 2023. The jail was run by Sodexo at the time of the deaths. The jury criticised repeated failures at the Category B prison, such as poor leadership, multiple missed opportunities for support and other issues related to staffing levels.
The inquest revealed that Hayley Jarvis, former director of the prison, had found the buildings “dirty” when she arrived. In addition, longstanding issues with safety and drug use were also mentioned. Staff arrived on the day of the handover to find computers, which were leased to Serco, had been taken away, and a number of experienced prison officers had left in the months before the incident.
In all three cases, the jury stated that the transfer of the prison’s control due to poor leadership and supervision was likely to have “more than minimally contributed” to the prisoners’ deaths. The court heard that Anthony Binfield was repeatedly requesting a transfer to a different institution, but he was known to have issues with drugs and had been attacked because of debts. The jury said he had been “let down” by the prison service. David Richards, who had been moved to the site without a vulnerable prisoner unit, was described as “petrified and unsafe” during his mental health assessment.
The findings of the inquest raise several permanent concerns, such as the UK’s private prisons and issues with staffing levels, risk-pertinent information sharing and other intricacies around their operation. The complexity involved in the range of people vulnerable to such failures in the system must not be overlooked, as clear communication on risks and the proper provision of support is paramount to avoid further abuse of rights
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