Sundeep Ghuman

“The operation of the CSRA process, and application of the CSRA policy at HMP Belmarsh and more widely in the prison service HMPPS provided a witness who holds a senior position in the safety group for HMPPS and is responsible for various policies and processes including the CSRA policy ("the policy witness"). His evidence was that the CSRA policy is to the effect that if a prisoner poses a risk because of racism, that they should be categorised as "high risk", but if appropriate that they could be permitted to share with a prisoner of their own ethnicity. He confirmed that this had been the policy position in 2019 and remains the position now. The policy witness was not aware of the "S1" system operated at HMP Belmarsh (where such prisoners would be categorised as "standard risk" with a note to say that they can share with their own ethnicity) until he was preparing for his evidence in this case. He also emphasised that the policy is intended to enshrine a cautious approach to risk.”

“A lack of either guidance or operational understanding of how NOMIS alerts for racism should be treated by staff.”

“The lack of consideration of risks, beyond the minimum requirements of the CSRA, when allocating prisoners to share a cell”