Birds of Prey over HMP Wymott

Mr Paul Squibb is the Head of PE at HMP Wymott, a male Class C trainer prison accommodating 1150. Previously he has spoken to us about the development and teaching of C and R techniques but, being a man of many parts, he tells this time of the hawks and owls his team have trained to keep the prison surrounds at Wymott clean and tidy.Towards the end of the piece he ventures to put the extent of mental healthcare needed in prisons into perspective and typically suggests ways that PE departments could help.

When we spoke a while back you mentioned you were involved with birds of prey; what have you been up to?
Paul Squibb (PS) We have to go back about seven years when I was a member of the Medical Communicable Diseases Team. We had a huge problem with pigeons making and leaving a mess and at one meeting we heard that an officer had slipped over, caused by a mess left by a pigeon, hurt herself and had made a claim from industrial injuries. The meeting asked... “What can we do about it?” and I suggested we contacted a company flying hawks. Such companies are hired by large football clubs and hospitals and the hawks they deploy chase the pigeons away. Head of Works wasn’t keen because the hawks, he said,would fly into the Dannet wire and injure themselves. I was sure that hawks were smart enough not to fly into wires. From that time I was determined to do something about it, perhaps have our own hawks and get the prisoners involved. I took the problem to my PE team and asked for suggestions.

How many birds do you have?
PS The last time I visited the centre we had ten ranging from hawks to owls. We had a problem similar to that at Wandsworth because the windows can be opened in the older part of the prison, while in the more modern additions the windows are just for venting.

How do you select the prisoners who look after the birds?
PS They are volunteers who we vet carefully and then train. Kevin Fisher went away to do a Falconry course and to get himself qualified; he supervises the training of the prisoners. There was a bird of prey centre in Longton,
just this side of Preston, where a guy did the training, shut down now unfortunately.

How did you go about funding? I suppose the cost was offset by the savings in the cost of clearing up?

PS We had to get some money to start us off and with that we purchased a couple of hawks. By this time Kevin was well into the job and learned of centres and other owners who had too many birds and so we were able to help them out. In addition he was able to take-in injured birds and look after them until they were well enough to work again.That way we have made-up the numbers.

How are the patrols organised?
PS We make a selection from the prisoners, they are made blue bands and work full time. As soon as they leave the residential area in the morning they have carte blanche access to the grounds and that is a huge area. The situation now is that there are very few pigeons and even fewer rodents; occasionally we get a report of a pigeon roosting then we tell one of the team and that settles that. There are times when the birds are not active, they stay indoors when they are breeding for example. The team members become very proficient, a former member, since transferred, became well known  to the Independent Bird Registery , he was good with a pen and wrote articles for their magazine. They have offered him a job when that time comes.

As usual we have to discus the cost of the operation, how do you go  about funding?
PS There are companies who supply us with frozen chicks and mice. I’m not sure how much it costs, but the result is well worth the food the birds need to keep going.

Do you send the birds away for training?
PS No,we can do that here.We use a creance - it’s like a long lead tied to the wrist and the birds can fly away and we entice them to return by using food.We have only ‘lost’ one bird, an owl, but we often see him on the way
to work! One of the hawks also flies away and is often gone for two or three months but he always comes back. You see the prison, the grounds and the local countryside have become their territory.

Is the training difficult, how long does it take to get a bird operational?
PS It’s difficult to train a mature bird so we start with a youngster as soon as it learns to fly and then it takes six to twelve months.Also the birds are on display during family days; they are very impressive, the big owls especially so. They are quite safe, nobody has ever been hurt.

So from a cost/benefit analysis point of view the birds are good value for their feed?
PS By a very big margin; it’s  really just the cost of the food, we had all the hutches made at HMP Kirkham. Some people quibble because we get a very big duck population visiting here. Nature takes it course and from time to time a hawk will take a young duckling.

Has the word got round to other prisons?
PS Yes, Liverpool is an old inner-city prison. They used hawks for some time and have only recently moved to another system. While I’m here I would like to get an update on what is happening in your gym.

The last time we spoke, March 2007, the subject was the then new control and constraint techniques and training.What’s new?
PS We probably have more gym facilities here than any other prison in the country.We have a new unit which has its own gym facilities. It is called a therapeutic centre. Prisoners are selected that have drug related problems..We also have what is called enhanced prisoners and have had a new gym built equipped with new kit.. Such a prisoner is granted enhanced status and enjoys an extensive range of privileges.What we have never been able to do at Wymott is to have sufficient space in the gym where these prisoners can train on their own, as befits their status, without affecting other programmes that are ongoing.We have to show trust and, if they misbehave, then their privileges are taken away.

I would like to talk some more about the Therapeutic Centre for prisoners with drug related problems. In what way do you feel that the gym and the gym staff help people with drug problems?
PS Think about  introducing the prisoner to a totally different lifestyle, that’s what it is all about. Exercise acts like a drug, it brings forth certain beneficial substances, so in effect we are introducing people to an alternative style of drug use  induced by PE. PE creates hormones in the body which will give a ‘fix’,we call it doing exercise on prescription. PE to me is a drug, it’s something I can’t do without; if I don’t exercise I’m below par physically and mentally. Basically that is what we aim to do with these guys. First we assess their physical ability, explain what we want them to do and the benefits that will accrue and hopefully they will become ‘hooked’ on PE instead of popping tablets and/or injecting themselves. In almost all cases they have never done any form of exercise at all so it’s a complete change for them. In the Therapeutic Centre we run PE classes for 15 men at a time and we also do one-to-one referrals through a scheme called CARATS.

It can’t be as easy as that, I can not imagine a non-athletic persistent drug user being easily persuaded to adopt a totally different lifestyle. How do you go about selling such a concept?
PS When prisoners attend the Therapeutic Centre they are signing-up to an agreement to do something about their offending behaviour. Our part of that process is to offer an alternative to their present lifestyle starting with an explanatory chat with the PE staff and introducing the PT from a very basic level, gentle jogging to music and building from there. You have to remember that a lot of them might be on  turkey’, coming down from drugs, so we have to be careful. I’m pleased to tell you that we have had nothing but success with the treatment.

But what is ‘success’, what are you looking for?
PS Success is a guy who responds to our coaching and picks-up on exercise that becomes a major part of his life-style. Success is a man who has realised that to introduce chemicals into his body is harmful. It is a fact that many take drugs because they are bored and have nothing else to do. The Therapeutic Centre has its own gym and we give them exercise every day. The whole unit is selfcontained and exclusively for ex or current drug users and is run as a therapeutic community. They do programmes, are given tasks to do and have meetings among themselves. The unit itself is run by an external company called Phoenix. It is not a Prison Service unit, although it is within the prison and we man it.

What range of kit do they have in there?
PS There are 70 prisoners selected to attend the Therapeutic Gym and they have a miniversion of the range of equipment we have in the main gym which deals with 1,050 prisoners. Since they sign-up to an agreement to do something about their condition they are given their own facilities and every encouragement to be successful.They visit the main gym occasionally, for instance they are coming this afternoon to play 5-a-side football, but mainly they are separate from the other prisoners and that helps the therapy by keeping unhelpful peer pressure away from them.

Do those selected have a minimum amount of time to serve?
PS It does not matter how much time that they have left to serve as long as they can attend the duration of the programme. The programme lasts for 12 to 14 months.There is a ‘three strikes and out’ policy in force whereby if they stray from their agreement, caught with drugs for instance, then they are removed from the programme. There is no shortage of customers, there is a substantial waiting list for entry. Because of the community environment created each individual seems to take strength from the group, for instance if a member misbehaves the others will encourage him back onto the proper path, we don’t have to do it; it is selfregulating.

Do they supervise their own gym training?
PS No, we do that. Once they have achieved their goal, that is having made a success of their work in the Therapeutic Centre, then they are given a certificate of achievement and leave the unit to make space for another starting on the road to enlightenment.

Are there any developments concerning the ‘enhanced gym’?
PS I went to a meeting yesterday to discuss the future of the establishment and was interested to hear of the interest being taken by the Head of Psychology. We are going to be taking enhanced prisoners to the gym straight from the workshops Monday to Thursday at 4.45pm when they usually go back to the wing and are locked-up to wait for evening association. Instead they will be able to go to their own gym under minimum supervision and we think it will seem very much like a youth club. If then they step out of line it will affect their enhanced status. The Head of Psychology was interested because the element of trust granted will encourage more people to aim for enhanced status which they hope will cascade around the prison with people achieving targets and goals within a much happier environment. These are the sorts of things we have been trying to do for years but there have always been constraints mostly to do with staffing. But it seems that the general opinion is that it’s the correct way forward. Also we have heard the good news that we might be getting another P.E.O; one extra hand will make a big difference especially with the mental health  programme.

I remember our last talk when you said that the take-up of gym facilities was very good. Is that still the case?
PS Yes, the numbers are holding up well but we still actively encourage prisoners to attend. Like every other prison in the country we hold a large number of people with mental health problems and just don’t have the resources to deal with them properly on this scale. At Wymott we have two or three specialists coming in for a few days each week but they only deal with the very serious cases. We in the PE department believe we can make a contribution to their care by offering exercise on prescription in close cooperation, of course, with the Healthcare department. In fact we can foresee the PE department playing a major role. We would need more staff, always a major issue, if we were to have more programmes. Another factor would be that we would have to work with smaller groups, even on a one-to-one basis sometimes. Apart from staff we have everything else, we have our own remedial centre, a physio centre, we are a registered first aid deliverer, with the HSE and all the instructors are qualified. We have a weights room, a sports hall, a Cardio vascular gym, an enhanced gym and a sports field that has a multi purpose outdoor activity centre. It’s all here.We have converted the pavilion outside into a first aid centre and a remedial suite where we can treat injured prisoners and prison staff and get them back to work quickly.

I don’t understand the benefit of PT to people with mental health disorders, could you explain?
PS It is estimated that 90% of prisoners have a mental health issue and, within that figure, 70% come within the definition of Step 2 which includes stress and depression. The most serious cases,we hope, will get individual specialist attention but that leaves a very large number of Step 2 guys and the medical profession is convinced that ‘exercise on prescription’ can have a major influence on both stress and depression. So we are going to take a good look at these Step 2 guys, the doctor or the healthcare team will  end us a referral and we shall call for them and offer a set programme specially designed to help their mental condition. We have a name for the system, an acronym PEOPLE…..Prisoners Exercise On Prescription Life Enhancement. The submission has been on the table for about 18 months, staffing being the constraint again, but now we have the resources and very soon we shall implement. The very serious mental cases have a chance of treatment within existing conditions but the Prison Service can’t treat the mass of Step 2 cases and PT seems to be the best way of tackling an almost insurmountable problem. One extra member of staff will make a massive difference here.We draw strength from our experience with tackling drugs through PE which  as established right here in this gym and is now nationally recognised.We are ready to tackle mental health through PE but we shall need support and resources.

All very impressive.Thank you Paul for taking time out to speak with the Review.