HMP Birmingham: New boss pledges 'back to basics' approach to turn prison around after last year's riots

Hundreds of prisoners were moved from the jail as a consequence and an extensive repair operation had to be undertaken in an attempt to fix the damage.

But now troubled HMP Birmingham has a new boss, and he is determined his 'back to basics' approach will turn the prison around.

Richard Stedman arrived from the sex-offender prison Rye Hill in Rugby, Warwickshire, earlier this year. When he was appointed to run Rye Hill he was the youngest prison boss in the country at 35. But his proven track record has not provided him with any illusions about how difficult the task in Birmingham will be. He faces record levels of violence, a strained relationship between his employers G4S and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and a change in the type of prisoners he will be responsible for.

The fact the Express & Star had to meet Mr Stedman in a coffee shop as opposed to his own prison because of MOJ restrictions immediately shows the strains. G4S, the private security firm that runs HMP Birmingham, deny it is a problem.

The conversation immediately starts with last year's riots, which the prison, also commonly referred to as Winson Green, is still recovering from today.

Asked about how it happened, Mr Stedman explained: "There is a report, we are not sure if or when it will be released, which looks at some of the major prison incidents last year. In that report it clearly states that the incident at Birmingham was opportunistic rather than pre-planned."

But if prisoners are looking for opportunities that will inevitably arise, how do you stop it? Well, according to Mr Stedman, the answer is simple - make sure inmates feel valued and that the prison is genuinely there to help rather than hinder.

His approach to this will be 'back to basics' – more officers spending more time with prisoners, getting to know them and building proper relationships.

He explained: "By September we will have 30 more officers than we are required to have. That is about having an extra level of support and making sure we can create good relations between staff and prisoners.

"We also want to stop such a high staff turnover. If officers are working with the same prisoners day in and day out then they can form meaningful relationships. Prison staff who do not know their prisoners cannot gage their mood, and that is when the problems start.

"It is good to start with the basic aspects. Prisoners feel safe if staff are in charge. We had a meeting with the prison council and they are supportive of what we want to do, they want to feel safe.

"We want staff feeling safer and much more confident, we want prisoners feeling safe and prisoners engaging more. Back to the fundamentals, a safe prison is an ordered prison.

"If the prisoners feel we have a genuine stake in their re-settlement outside of the prison then they are more likely to cooperate with us."

But that will not be easy as, as reported by the Express & Star earlier this year, the prison is set to become a remand prison. This means the majority of inmates will now only be spending short amounts of time, normally just a matter of weeks, in the prison before appearing in court.

How can you get prisoners to care about the prison when they will only be in there for a few weeks? Mr Stedman said: "If we do end up with a large amount of remand prisoners then that again poses a challenge, but it will be up to us to get onto them right away and help them from the off."

On top of the threat of remand looming, Mr Stedman also comes into the prison at a time when figures show it is suffering from record levels of violence.

Latest figures show the prison recorded a record number of self-harm incidents last year with 647, a record number of assaults with 914 (up from 518 in 2015), a record number of staff assaults with 296, a record number of prisoner on prisoner assaults with 587 and a record number of serious assaults with 75.

He acknowledged the rising figures and the growing issue of psychoactive substances, formerly known as legal highs, which can be the trigger for violence in prisons, but maintained his back to basics approach would be able to sort this out.

Mr Stedman's real test will come at the end of this month, when both a prison inspectorate report is released and the prison returns to full operational capacity of 1,450 following last year's riots.

But he is confident his staff will be up to the task and the prison will not be left defined by December's riot.