Doncaster prisons are seeking volunteers for monitoring role

Here in Doncaster we have four prisons: one in the city centre (HMP Doncaster) and three out to the east of the city: HMP Lindholme, HMP Moorland and HMPs Hatfield/Hatfield Lakes.

Inside each prison operates a small group of people who are completely independent of the Prison Service.

Each person is a ‘public appointment’, appointed by the minister of state only after a very lengthy series of security vetting.

This is the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) – the statutory body set up with a remit to ensure that prisoners are all being treated correctly and that the prison is ‘following its rules’.

We have four key areas of concern that are constantly under scrutiny – safety, humane treatment, health and well-being, progression and release.

Members go into the prison each week and look at the way these four areas are being managed and delivered; we have unfettered access to the prison and to all staff, and are available to any prisoner who wishes to raise a concern - which we then follow up with prison staff and management.

Our role is not to manage or investigate, but to monitor – and if our monitoring uncovers systematic problems which the prison is unable or unwilling to address, we have the right of access direct to the Prisons Minister to inform him or her of our concerns.

Members are all local people; we are not paid, but expenses are reimbursed; one or two other allowances are available and full training is given.

Individually, we may go in to the prison four or five times a month, so it’s not massively onerous.

Ideally, the IMB at each prison would consist of at least ten people, but most establishments currently have far fewer.

Recruitment only happens twice a year; the current round starts this week and only lasts until October 12.

If you’d like to know more about the role in general, go to https://imb.org.uk/prison-volunteer/ or for a more personal comment on local opportunities, drop a line to [email protected].