Prison is not usually a place you would expect to set foot in unless you get on the wrong side of the law.
But now a Norfolk jail is looking for upstanding members of the community to make regular visits – to help monitor standards inside.
Every prison is required by law to have an Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) in place to check on the jail's performance and how prisoners are being treated.
HMP Wayland IMB is now seeking to recruit up to seven people to help continue its work at the 1,000-capacity men’s prison at Griston, near Watton.
The prison is being expanded to create more places but its performance was identified as one of 15 out of 122 rated as “of concern” in the Ministry of Justice’s 2021/22 annual prison performance ratings.
Wayland IMB chairman Mike Gander said: “Now we are coming out of Covid the difficulty is the prison has lost a lot of staff through resignations and because a few years ago there was a mistaken attempt to reduce staff numbers to make them more efficient, and I think it is generally accepted now that it was a mistake.
“Staff at the moment in Wayland are under pressure. There are staff that have been brought in from other prisons to help but that is never a substitute.
“The regime is still restricted, prisoners aren’t out of their cells as much as they were before the pandemic because of the lack of staff.”
Mr Gander said the IMB had a vital role as “eyes and ears” to identify potential failings.
Members are independent, monitor day-to-day life inside the prison and produce an annual report.
They have unrestricted access to all areas, from cell blocks to the kitchens, and can talk to any prisoner without members of staff if necessary.
“Obviously the prison service has its own way of managing its staff and understanding what is going on in its prisons, and it is all very statistically managed, but we are much more involved on the human level,” said Mr Gander.
“Prisoners will get an open hearing because we aren’t prejudiced by having to maintain any particular operational line.
“We can listen, ask questions and we follow things up later. They can expect us to treat them with respect and concern.”
For more details and how to join Wayland IMB visit imb.org.uk/join-now/current-vacancies/
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