Prison monitoring team made 200 masks for inmates during PPE shortage

Wednesday 31 March 2021

Volunteers who check on the welfare of prisoners had to make almost 200 masks for inmates, after the former Governor expressed his concerns about the amount of PPE available at La Moye last year.

Writing in the Independent Prison Monitoring Board’s recently published annual report for 2020, Chair Vivian Vibert said: “In late March [2020], the then Governor Nick Cameron, was anxious to obtain as much PPE as possible when there were concerns about nation-wide supply.

“Surgical masks were worn by staff, but it was thought advisable that prisoners should wear masks of which a minimum of 600 were needed before they could be issued to all. Board members therefore made 198 masks and supplied another 63, assembled but unsewn, all with three layers. We also provided fabric and elastic which H Wing used to make masks.”

Last August, email exchanges between Mr Cameron and Government officials obtained by Express revealed a row over PPE before the Governor stood aside while an HR process took place. 

A day later, he resigned for personal reasons after less than two years in the role. Earlier in the month, Express had earlier reported that a member of the IPMB had quit her role over the government’s treatment of Mr Cameron.

Pictured: Prison Governor Nick Cameron resigned in August last year after a period of absence from the job.

However, the Board’s annual report does not go into any of these details, except noting that, for the IPMB, 2020 was “characterised by the resignation of the Prison Governor, Nick Cameron, with whom we had established a good working relationship; and a stabilisation of the IPMB itself; two members resigned but three new recruits joined in June, quickly making valuable contributions, and a deputy chair was formally appointed.”

In its report, the Board “commends the States of Jersey Prison Service for its management of the pandemic which resulted in minimal positive tests being recorded in staff by the end of 2020. 

“Some of this success should be attributed to Bill Millar and Nick Cameron, previous Governors, as initiatives conceived and progressed before 2020 turned out to be of great benefit in dealing with Covid-19”.

This included the refurbishment of E Wing, which was turned into a safe area for older prisoners and/or those vulnerable to Covid, and the re-purposing of the ground floor of H Wing into a self-contained flat, which had become a quarantine ward if any prisoner developed Covid-19.

The report adds: “After Nick Cameron's departure Nick Watkins, the Deputy Governor, became Acting Governor, and his staff stoically kept La Moye running so that no infection entered.”

The IPMB received a total of 39 applications in 2020 from prisoners asking them to investigate a complaint, compared to 27 in 2019 and 31 in 2018. The top two reasons concerned disputes over the awarding of privileges, and complaints about facilities or the inability to access them.

Pictured: The IPMB praised the Prison's response to the Covid pandemic.

Although, the IPMB's annual report is praising of the way the prison is run, it does call for better Government communication following one incident in December. 

It says: "We had one application in late December which was a cause for concern.

"This involved the Conditional Early Release of a young offender, something La Moye has been doing for over 20 years. However, a team in the Strategy, Policy, Population and Performance Department had discovered that there was a discrepancy between the Prison Rules applying to such release and the laws relating to young offenders, which meant that the release was deemed illegal.

"Due to miscommunication, the Prison Rules were not immediately amended, and the situation was not known to the Deputy Governor before the young offender was released.

"As a result, the young man was recalled two days after his release, on the advice of the Law Officers, with the rules only being amended as a matter of urgency, and with the full support of the Minister, afterwards.

"While the IPMB has no statutory oversight of sentencing issues, our remit clearly applied to the person's welfare for the few days until he was re- released after the amendment came into force. The incident emphasises the need for better communication between SPPP (or any other States department dealing with such matters), the Attorney General's Office, the Probation Service and La Moye.

Following Mr Watkins’ retirement this month after 32 years' service at the prison, Susie Richardson will become HMP La Moye’s first female Governor.