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That sounds like a young offenders institution not a prison?

They are two different things.

Wymott is a adult prison.
Also people are in prison as a punishment, they are not there to be punished.

The First 24hrs in prison:

The first 24 hours can be the hardest for a new prisoner but hopefully this article will help to guide you through what will happen on his first night. Prison life isn’t easy for prisoners, or for their families.

Leaving the court enjoyed your posting very informative are you a prison officer?

He will be taken from the courts by van. He will then be handed over to the reception staff who will book him in as a new reception, cataloging all his personal possessions such as money, jewellery and clothes.

He will be asked to verify who he is and then given a unique prison number and an identity card. This number will then become part of his identity whilst he is in prison.

Whilst in reception he will be told what property he is/isn’t allowed. If he has property with him on arrival that is not permitted it will be stored for him. Any money that he has on his person will be placed into ‘prisoners monies’ and will be available for him to spend on his first canteen sheet.

The First Night Centre

From reception he will be taken to the ‘First Night Centre’.

On arrival he will be seen by a member of staff, usually officer grade. He will be asked a series of questions in order to assess his abilities for adjusting to prison life. It is a basic risk assessment that every new prisoner must go through.

On his first night he will be offered a packet of tobacco, £4 phone credit for the pin phone, a pin number and a free prison letter to enable him to contact friends and loved ones. Some basic toiletry items will also be offered to allow him to freshen up.

After having a basic risk assessment he will see the nurse allowing him to discuss any medical problems he has. If he needs to see the doctor for any reason he will have an opportunity to ask the nurse for a doctor’s appointment at this stage. The doctor would usually visit him later that evening. All nurse consultations are held in a confidential environment.

He will then be given a hot meal, a chance to relax in his cell and be able to make any phone calls.

Waking up in prison

The following morning he will be seen by a range of agencies that may be able to offer help and guidance through his impending sentence. Those agencies are:-

CARATS (drug and alcohol workers), Safer Custody (help with coping strategies), Benefits, Probation, Education, Chaplaincy, Jigsaw Family Support Workers

He will stay on the first night centre for only the first night in prison. He will then be transferred to one of the upper levels of where he will stay for approximately a week. During this induction week he will have access to information on the prison rules & regulations, general regime & routine, jobs, groups & courses, and also be assessed on his abilities, before being transferred to one of the other permanent wings.

Personal Officers

When he is allocated to a permanent wing he will be assigned a personal officer. His day to day needs can be dealt with by the landing staff, but other concerns will be dealt with by his personal officer.

Most wings will usually publish a list of prisoners and their respective personal officer; a personal officer can sometimes be called your case officer or lifer officer. If at any time he transfers to a new wing then a new personal officer from that wing will be assigned to him.

Diversity

HMP is totally committed to ensuring that all prisoners, staff and visitors are treated fairly and equitably, regardless of age, gender, race, ethnic or national origins, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or disabilities.

Good race relations within the establishment are the responsibility of everyone who lives, works and visits at HMP.

Foreign National Prisoners

If he has been sent to prison and is a foreign national, i.e. a person who was born in a country other than the United Kingdom, and he would like to speak with a solicitor to help him with deportation or removal matters or, he would like to contact members of his family, he can talk to a member of staff or ask to see the Foreign National Liaison Officer. A list of solicitors can be provided to him that may be able to help him, also a number of information notices and booklets are available in various languages, these can be found in the wing prisoner information rooms.

Disability Liaison Officer

He will have the opportunity to declare any disabilities he may feel he has when coming through the reception process, and then again on the first night centre. A note of his condition(s) will be made and he will be issued with a green card to be kept with him at all times.

If special needs are identified then a medical management plan will be agreed with him. If necessary the type of accommodation required will be assessed and an appropriate cell will be allocated.

Complaints

Usually any problems can be resolved by speaking to a wing officer or his personal officer. If an official complaint is necessary forms are freely and easily available on the wings, they are then placed into a sealed box and handled as confidential. The complaints box is emptied daily and only by the request complaints clerk, no other member of staff has access to the box.

I.M.B – Independent Monitoring Board

The independent monitoring board is made up of volunteers, who have an interest in the Criminal Justice System, and act as a watchdog within the prison. Their aim is to ensure that the prison is run correctly and that the prisoners are treated decently. They will get involved in prison issues; they will not get involved with a prisoners personal issues outside the prison. I.M.B is completely independent of the prison and they will speak to prisoners out of the sight and hearing of staff if requested.

There are applications, and boxes, on each wing to request to speak to a member of the I.M.B.

These boxes are only emptied by I.M.B members.

Sending money into HMP

Postal orders are the best way to send in money. They must be made payable to Her Majesty’s Prison Service. The prisoner’s full name and number must be on the back of the postal order. Anyone sending a postal order must enclose the sender’s details.

Visits

Prisoners on remand

Standard
3 x 1 hour visits per week
Enhanced
4 x 1 hour visits per week
Basic
3 x 1 hour visits per week

Convicted prisoners
Standard
3 x 1 hour visits per week
Enhanced
5 x 1 hour visits per week
Basic
2 x 1 hour visits per week

Listeners

The listeners are prisoners trained by the Samaritans, and are covered by the same code of conduct and confidentiality as the Samaritans. Listeners are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and some listeners are available who can speak other languages. The Samaritans can also be contacted by using the pin phone system at no cost.

Handing possessions in

Any possessions to be handed in should be applied for by the prisoners on a blue application form(available on his wing). Five days notice is needed, and one particular date arranged for the items to be delivered. You do not need to be on a visit to deliver possessions to the property office. For more information on property, telephone the property office.

Prison Jargon

Convicted

someone who has been found guilty/has pleaded guilty and has been sentenced

Remand

someone who is awaiting trial

Application

For everything a prisoner wants to do he has to apply for it by filling in an application form. These are generally referred to as ‘apps’


Basic/standard/enhanced

HMP runs a privileged scheme. This scheme affect the work the prisoner can do, how many visits they can have each week/month, what personal property they can have and what they can spend on the canteen. All prisoners start off on standard privileges, if they behave well, get on with staff and other prisoners and have a job, they can then apply to become an enhanced prisoner. Usually after 10-12 weeks. However if their behavior is not to the expected standard they can be placed on a basic privilege which means less visits, no personal property, loss of the in cell TV and less money to spend on the canteen.


Classification, Categorisation and Allocation


Differentiated Regimes

All prisoners, including unconvicted and civil prisoners, are required to be classified to one of three regimes: basic, standard or enhanced. The prison governor takes this decision based on performance in custody, for example a prisoner’s disciplinary record.. Each regime offers a different level of incentives and privileges and commonly prisoners on the basic regime will receive the bare legal minimum in terms of visits or access to private cash and wages. Those on the standard and enhanced regimes will receive progressively more favourable facilities, although the precise nature of these will vary according to each prison's security category. These regulations also require a number of key items such as phonecards, cigarettes and stamps to be purchased from the private cash allowance.

Prison Categories

There are broadly five categories of prison for adult male prisoners:

1.Local prisons for unconvicted and short-term prisoners.
2.High security (formerly known as ‘dispersal’) prisons for high security prisoners.
3.Training prisons for long-term prisoners who do not need the highest security.
4.Category C prisons, which are closed but have less internal security.
5.Open prisons for prisoners not believed to be a risk to the public or in danger of escaping.
Male and female prisoners will be held completely separately from each other, although this may be in the same prison. Immediately after conviction, a male prisoner will be held at a local prison while his security categorisation and allocation are decided. Because there are fewer young offenders and women prisoners and prisons, the arrangements are not exactly the same. Women's prisons and young offenders' institutions are simply divided into open and closed establishments although, as the number of women prisoners has increased, they are increasingly designating some women’s prisons to be less secure and more on a par with male category C prisons.

Categorisation

There are four security categories for adult males:

1.Category A: prisoners whose escape would be highly dangerous to the public, police or security of the State and for whom the aim must be to make escape impossible.
2.Category B: prisoners who do not need the highest conditions of security but for whom escape must be made very difficult.
3.Category C: prisoners who cannot be trusted in open conditions but who do not have the ability or resources to make a determined escape attempt.
4.Category D: prisoners who can reasonably be trusted to serve their sentences in open conditions.
Category A prisoners also have an escape risk classification based upon their ability and willingness to escape. The classifications are exceptional, high and standard escape risk.

Women prisoners and young offenders may be made Category A, but normally they will either be simply allocated to open or closed conditions.

Category A prisoners have greater restrictions upon them for security reasons, and their visitors will be vetted by the police on behalf of the prison authorities. These prisoners are entitled to a formal, annual review of their security categorisation during which the reports prepared on them will be disclosed and the prisoner invited to make written representations to the decision-making committee. Legal advice and assistance can be sought in making these written representations.

The governor makes categorisation decisions (other than for category A prisoners). A prisoner can make a complaint to the Ombudsman if the decision is considered to be unfair. Alternatively, he or she could apply to the High Court for judicial review of his or her categorisation if there were evidence that it had been arrived at unlawfully, for example, by taking account of irrelevant information or applying the wrong criteria.

Allocation

Prisoners may be allocated to any prison in England and Wales according to the offence, sentence, security category and individual circumstances of the prisoner. There is no right to be located close to home but you can apply for transfer, as can your family who might wish to put in evidence, for example, from a GP about the difficulties illness causes in travelling long distances. The Ombudsman can intervene in an allocation decision if it can be shown to be unfair. An application can be made to the High Court if the decision is, for example, wrongly motivated, especially if it deprives an unconvicted prisoner of access to his or her lawyers and family.