Inspectors to HMP Ranby, a category C training and resettlement prison in Nottinghamshire, found that the prison failed to provide purposeful activity to inmates, despite the prison making some safety improvements. Over half of the 948 prisoners at the time of the inspection were unemployed and spending up to 23 hours a day behind their doors.
Well-resourced workshops sat empty, as did the library, and few prisoners attended classes. A substantial number of prisoners had poor English and mathematics skills but received no help to improve them, and low literacy skills were not addressed.
Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons, said: “The prison must break out of its COVID-19 inertia and provide meaningful, well-planned, and structured activities.”
