IT'S BEEN a good year for Dartmoor Prison where staff morale is said to be 'buoyant' — despite budget cuts and the threat of closure hanging over the establishment.

The Independent Monitoring Board's report for 2014 has commended management and staff for working effectively to implement the strong demands of the Ministry of Justice's 'New Ways of Working' programme, now in its second year at Dartmoor. But it also noted with 'serious concern' that there had been consequences, including notable reductions in service effectiveness due to staff shortages.

Last year the Government announced that it was entering negotiations with the Duchy of Cornwall to terminate the prison's lease leading to closure with a date yet to be specified. But despite this and in the face of the financial pressures, the prison has received praised for the 'commitment, professionalism and flexibility of staff' and the 'clear and continuing emphasis' during the year on increasing the number of prisoners in work and in education.

New courses had been started and a new commercial call centre created, said the board, but there were still too many prisoners on wings during the day with little to occupy them.

Staff shortages, on occasions, had hindered the progress as there had been several days when workshops had had to close.

Employment reductions implemented as part of the Ministry of Justice's transformation programme had impacted on the diversity centre, which provided a range of work opportunities which benefited the prison and wider community, the segregation unit, which at times only had one member of staff on duty and the much-praised family days, which had now ceased.

Chair of the IMB Graham Stoate, who lives in Tavistock, said uncertainty over the future of Dartmoor prison was not good for staff but they had got their heads down and were working well.

'Despite difficult conditions it has been a good year for the prison,' he said.

'It does compare favourably with prisons around the country. It is clean and tidy and given the limitations of its age and maintenance programme, it is an habitable establishment.

'It is a real shame that positive schemes like the family days, which were all about keeping prisoners interacting with their children and decreasing their risk of re-offending, have had to go because of the new regime. We have asked the Government why there seems to be less emphasis on rehabilitation rather than just incarceration.

'Staff cuts are not just affecting Dartmoor — it is a national problem. Unfortunately there are real pressures on the system and this has resulted in wing closures having to take place and a curtailment of activities at Dartmoor.

'We can only speculate that as more new prisons come on stream, wings at Dartmoor may close because the prison is under the threat of closure, but the management is not just letting it go — there is a sign of hope.'

The board said it was disappointed said that issues highlighted in last year's report remained largely unresolved including some single cells being used inappropriately to accommodate two prisoners and no specific programmes for sex offenders.

In addition, it raised concerns about an unacceptable amount of illegal drugs and manufactured psychotic substances which still appeared to be readily available to prisoners and an apparent increase in incidents of self-harm and violence amongst prisoners.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: 'We are pleased that independent inspectors have recognised the hard work of our dedicated and professional staff and the service they deliver, particularly in providing work and education to prisoners.

'There is an ongoing recruitment campaign at Dartmoor and we are expecting to fill the vacancies in the coming months.

'We take a zero tolerance approach to drugs in prison and use a range of robust security measures to find them. Offenders need to be absolutely clear — those caught with drugs will be severely dealt with and could see time added to their sentence.'

Recently a number of lock-down dog-assisted searches had been carried out that have had significant success in combating the drug supply into HMP Dartmoor.

Since the report was compiled, additional resources have been committed to the areas of self-harm and violence. The Prison Service said it had already seen an improvement in the management of offenders who were at risk of self-harm and those who threaten or commit acts of violence.

New governor of Dartmoor Prison Bridie Oakes-Richards, who started the job this week, said the mood amongst staff was 'buoyant'.