Last week, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons published its inspection report of HMP Oakwood, near Wolverhampton, which is operated by G4S. The report was overwhelmingly positive, with the prison scoring ‘good’ - the highest score possible - in three of four key metrics.

Following this report, HMIP’s Chief Inspector, Charlie Taylor, has written a blog exploring some of the reasons behind Oakwood’s success – and which he thinks other prisons can benefit from.

Top of this list, Taylor says, is the prisoner-led initiatives: programmes instigated and run by prisoners to benefit other inmates. One such example is a prisoner who started a woodwork shop for vulnerable peers, giving them the opportunity to make tables, bird boxes, benches and dog kennels which are then
made available to purchase.

Taylor also singles out the support prisoners get to maintain family ties – one of the best ways to stop reoffending - he says. He recalls Oakwood holding a dog visit day when he was there, allowing prisoners’ families to bring their well behaved dogs in.

Trust underpins Oakwood’s performance, Taylor says, and was enabled by a strong culture and senior management team; this filters all the way down from the director to the prisoners themselves. He stressed, though, that while there are incentives for good behaviour, there are also consequences for those who don’t follow the rules.

Additionally Taylor notes that Oakwood costs less per prisoner per year than any other jail in the country and concludes that many of its initiatives could be replicated across the wider prison estate.

Charlie Taylor’s blog post can be read read here.