VIOLENCE is recorded on a daily basis in HMP Leeds and the use of drugs and mobile phones is also a cause for “concern”, a new report has revealed.

The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) at the prison, which is based in Armley and houses a number of prisoners sentenced at Bradford’s courts, monitored the day-to-day life of the prison in 2016 to ensure standards of care and decency were met.

The reports found examples of violent incidents included “on almost every daily report” during the year, with an average of 46 per month.

There were also four self-inflicted deaths in custody during the reporting year, in which the prison operated at, or close to, its 1,218 capacity.

Among the concerns raised by the IMB were increasing levels of self-harm and the use of drugs by prisoners, with the report stating that officers had “frequently been required to transfer seriously affected and disturbed prisoners to segregation or to hospital under escort.”

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The problem was said to have become “particularly acute” during the third quarter of the year when emergencies led to ambulances being called up to fifteen times a day.

The levels of drug and mobile phone use were labelled “unacceptably high” during the year, with the report stating: “The number of mobile telephones recovered is a concern as they are highly valuable contraband. Their possession and use in the prison is regularly associated with violent incidents.”

The IMB also raised concerns over the prison’s mental health services, which it said were “overextended” during the year and struggled to deliver consistent support to all of those in need.

The quality of education within the prison, ranging from classroom activities to specialist vocational skills, was deemed to be “impressive” with high attendance figures.

Despite the “difficult” operational environment, the IMB stated it believed that prisoners were treated with “appropriate humanity and respect”, although some told the authors of the report that the general atmosphere in the jail was “frequently intimidating.”

The report commended the efforts of prison officers and welcomed a planned increase in staff numbers, stating a need to train and integrate the new cohort of officers “effectively and quickly.”

In response to the report, a Prison Service Spokesman said: “We are committed to transforming prisons into places of safety and reform and are taking unprecedented action to stop the supply and use of drugs and mobile phones.

“HMP Leeds have taken steps to improve prison safety through increasing CCTV, netting vulnerable external areas of the prison to reduce the number of throw overs, and recruiting more prison officers. A local safeguarding policy has also been introduced to stamp out violence and support victims.”