HMP Dovegate and QITs

Louise was originally from a catering background and started her career in the prison service as the NVQ Chef Trainer at HMP Lowdham Grange. The role included teaching NVQs and basic hygiene to the prisoners. She started at HMP Dovegate when it first opened, as the Catering Manager and worked her way up to her present role which she was appointed in March last year, having been acting up to that role for the previous 18 months; she also gained experience as Operations Manager for Residential. All her career has been spent in the private prison industry.

What is the job of the Assistant Director of Residential here at HMP Dovegate?

Louise Dickinson Simply put, I am responsible for the care and welfare, and rehabilitation of approximately 870 prisoners on the main side of the prison.

Whose idea was it to introduce the Quality Improvement Teams, or ‘QITs’ and what were the reasons that brought them about?

Louise Dickinson  It was a joint effort between Wyn, the Director, and myself. It came about after we had a very good HMCIP report that stated we were much improved. However, on the measurement of the quality of prisoner’s lives, it still showed that inmates here were not really very happy with the way that the staff were treating them. The inspectors didn’t see any of this however,      and it came out when the prisoner’s questionnaires were analysed. This was disappointing after the hard work and the positive changes that had been made by all staff, and we resolved to do something about it.

What was it that made you decide that the QITs were the way to resolve the issue of prisoners’ dissatisfaction with how they were being treated by staff?

Louise Dickinson To find out what the real problem was, we sat down with 20 members of staff and 20 prisoners and we went round the room and asked each one what they thought was both ‘good and bad’ about HMP Dovegate. This resulted in 42 positive and 42 negative comments. This gave us the raw data we needed to decide what should be done to rectify the situation. In modern parlance, we did a 360° appraisal on HMP Dovegate.

How did you persuade people to speak honestly, without fearing for their future careers, or that there maybe some comeback?

Louise Dickinson Wyn and I chaired the meeting and from the outset, we explained that we wanted people to be honest and straightforward and that the aim of this process was to improve the working and living conditions for everybody at HMP Dovegate. All those present bought into this concept and we had no difficulty with persuading people to be honest about what they thought. We already had a very good relationship between staff, management and prisoners here. This was crucial to enabling the process of highlighting what the problems were. We already had prisoner information forums and so people were used to their feedback being viewed positively. The QIT teams built on this success.

That must have been quite an eye-opener! What did you do with the information that created the QITs? What were the major areas and are there any particularly surprising results?

Louise Dickinson Something that was very surprising, was the similarity between what the staff and the prisoners didn’t like. Wynn and I took the results back to his office and analysed them. We found that there were six different areas which we felt needed attention. These included consistency, communication, staff prisoner relationships, prisoner progression, decency and safety. Given fairly detailed terms of reference, six teams were created and a Senior Management Advisor was appointed.  This was Wyn Jones, Ray Duckworth or myself. QITs were instructed to produce a diary or timeline for milestone events and submit them to their senior, for agreement every six weeks.  A full overview and review of all QITs and progress was scheduled to take place after 18 weeks. The teams then chose who was on them and then they set to work nine months ago.

Can you give me an example of the make-up of a QIT and what it has done?

Louise Dickinson One of our visits booking staff, Elaine Hartshorn, Chairs the team dealing with decency. She has never had experience of this type of role in the past, yet she Chairs a group of people that include prisoners and managers; a very diverse group in terms of age and experience including some very senior personnel. It is dealing with problems associated with visits, outdoor facilities, the Seg unit and prison shop.
A lot of groundwork has been done in these QITs in order for us to change the system that we operate here and to enable the goal of improving the lives of everybody here at HMP Dovegate.
An example of this, would be the way that prisoners have said that they like the differences between standard and enhanced regimes to be recognised. Quite surprisingly, prisoners wanted a greater differentiation between these two. Things that we considered would be difficult to implement, actually were not, because prisoners had suggested these themselves. It was quite surprising to hear a prisoner say they wanted certain privileges taken away from standard prisoners, so that there was a greater incentive to become an enhanced prisoner. This would not have been very easy to achieve, had it not have been for the QITs research.

What has been the effective interplay between the various QITs?

Louise Dickinson Every QITs has had an influence on the other ones. For instance, the consistency QITs and communication QITs, both fed into the applications system and we had a better result because of it.

What has been the effect on the way you are able to manage the prison as a result of these QITs?

Louise Dickinson We now think about operational matters completely differently. For instance, there had been a situation created because applications were being dealt with in a way that prisoners felt were not equitable. Sometimes they would wait days to get a reply and because their requests were written in the book, there was a considerable lack of privacy. The relevant QITs looked into this. The result is that we now use an individual paper application. However, it is logged into a book when the application is made. It then goes off to the correct department, so this gives them a longer time span to make a reply. When it is returned at the end of the day, it is logged back into the record book. The inmate can then   see that the application is being made and answered promptly, properly and privately. In addition, staff are not stuck at a desk for an hour a day processing applications, when they are trying to do their other tasks.

What effect does all this have on the morale of the prison staff?

Louise Dickinson It has made a huge difference. It’s made the staff a lot more positive, because it’s helping them help the prisoners and this in turn, is making their work easier and more rewarding. To look at it in a different way, if prisoners are happy there, thus not making the staff’s life difficult, it’s a win-win situation.

And what about the morale of the prisoners?

Louise Dickinson They see things happening that they have had an input into. So they feel they have some control over what happens to them. They see an improvement in decency which leads to a better prison to serve their time in. The majority of prisoners, will one day be released and so if they have had a more positive experience in prison, they are less likely to reoffend when they leave it. Offender assessment programs are also being introduced as a result of QITs. This is where an inmate sits down with an officer on a weekly basis and discusses the issues that affect them, their sentence plan and their offender behavior addressing programs.

Do you have some more examples of where work done by a QITs has materially improved the lives of those who reside and work at the prison?

Louise Dickinson We have put seats out in the yard for our more elderly prisoners. This, was suggested by one of our sex offenders who works on a QITs. The fact that the QITs are happy to accept him, tells a lot about how well the system works.
We are creating an officer almanac. This is a handbook for all officers, that explains a lot about how a prison and its systems work. This is primarily aimed at new officers, so that when they are asked a question by an inmate, they can look it up in the almanac and give the prisoner a better answer than ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I will have to find out and come back to you’. This makes the officer feel more confident and the inmate gets an immediate reply. This will become more important now that we have remand prisoners here. We have also introduced a scheme where inmates can notify management when they feel a member of staff has done an exceptional job. It’s called the Staff Recognition Scheme.
Due to the large capacity we now have, we have expanded the gymnasium. We have more older prisoners now, so we have introduced a WII room, in order that they can take advantage of the more gentle exercise programs available.

We’ve discussed how you can make things happen through the QITs system, but how do you manage when something cannot be done that has been requested?

Louise Dickinson Because we do not dismiss any idea completely on first sight,  the process of looking to see if there is a way of doing it is gone through. During the process, it usually becomes obvious that something cannot be done and because it has been examined, people accept the outcome even if it is a disappointment.
For instance, one of the QITs are looking at games being played in the exercise areas during association time. I am not sure that we will have the requisite health and safety provisions in place to prevent people getting hurt. It’s all very well for vigorous games to take place, but what happens if someone who just wants to have a gentle walk around gets knocked over? Because we look at all these ideas in depth and do not dismiss any at the outset, we are sure that a negative conclusion will be accepted as the sensible outcome.

Louise had arranged for me to talk to some of the QITs leaders. These were drawn from a room full of 40 people who had gathered to talk to me!  I was unable to speak with everyone. All had a story to tell and were all enthusiastic to impart them. I could have spent hours there. However, I can recount a few examples.
Gill Curtis leads the Staff and Prisoner Relationships QITs. The team examined the frustrations felt by prisoners. By using a  questionnaire, it established that a lot of the frustration prisoners felt, was due to staff not being knowledgeable enough.  However, it is obvious that staff are unable to know everything! The QITs proposed a solution that begins with a pocket sized almanac that all staff will carry. It will contain most of the information an inmate might require and if not, where and who to obtain it from. A video is also being created, that will teach a member of staff the most successful way of interacting with an inmate. Annual ‘product knowledge’, tests for staff have also been mentioned!

I spoke with an inmate on the subject of additional problems faced by foreign nationals. These included the difficulty in communicating with family in another country. The issue of longer calls and the possibility of a video conference facility are on the discussion agenda.  He liked the fact that this would even be considered and appreciated the ‘will try attitude’.

Dale Worthington, a Custody Officer, spoke to me about the safety of staff. An example being the issue of ‘spit kits’ to staff. Spitting was highlighted as an issue that needed addressing.  It’s impossible to prevent it completely, so the ability to clean up when it has happened was addressed and now all staff have been issued with the materials to do so. Dale is also involved with the Incentives and Privileges Scheme, which is looking into the difference between standard and enhanced prisoners.

Jason Johnson and David Gander are on the Communication QITs.  Amongst other matters, it is looking at the problems that inmates have in communicating with the personal officer responsible for them. A process for communication was always present, but it was not delivering the required levels of information. A change was required and made. Now inmates have a structure for talking to their allocated member of staff. A calmer prison seems to be the result.

The Publisher would like to thank all the staff and residents at HMP Dovegate for their co-operation and assistance.