ONGOING staff shortages are the 'biggest destabilising factor' and are 'adversely affecting' prisoners at HMP Berwyn, a report has warned.

Earlier this month, the prison's Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) published its annual report for the year of March 1, 2022 to February 28, 2023.

One of the report's main findings was the impact of staff shortages on the running of the establishment.

It explains: "HMP Berwyn was under Covid restrictions for much of the reporting period.

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"The prison is now opening up, with more opportunities for association and meaningful activity.

"However, progress has been adversely affected by shortages of operational staff and probation officers.

"There were frequent complaints about lack of association and time out of cell, due to Covid and staff shortages.

"Since early 2023 association and a fuller exercise regime have been reintroduced, and pool tables, table football and comfortable chairs restored to the wings.

"The offender management unit (OMU) and Probation are seriously understaffed, reducing prisoner access to resettlement programmes.

"OMU staff shortages adversely affect prisoners, several of whom told the Board they did not know who their key workers were."

According to the report, the prison's complaints department has also been "seriously understaffed," resulting in the IMB receiving "numerous applications about overdue complaints."

In its previous annual report, the IMB raised concerns with the prison service that "the establishment is regularly impacted by staffing shortages, causing restricted regimes and impacting upon important initiatives such as key work."

And it raised concern at a ministerial level about the "lack of sufficient staff," which it described as "the biggest destabilising factor in the prison."

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According to the latest report, the IMB received "no direct response" to the concerns, but it notes that more staff are being recruited.

"HMP Berwyn has been authorised to carry out local recruitment," the document states, "which should improve retention."

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "Much of the period covered by this report was when HMP Berwyn was under COVID restrictions and conditions have improved substantially since, with staff retention rates up 50 per cent, tougher security measures to boost safety and a new drug recovery wing helping prisoners get clean.”