Report of the Inquiry into the circumstances of the Death of Bernard ...

HMCIP recommended that an effective system of managerial supervision over staff
decisions should be implemented.
7.24 A memorandum dated 1 October 1999 instructed that the authority to award loss
of association was withdrawn and drew wing managers’ attention to the incentives and
earned privileges system, through which unacceptable behaviour should be addressed.
E wing: 11 July to 25 July
7.25 As a sentenced prisoner, Mr Lodge was on E wing in the Bottom Prison from
Saturday 11 July to Saturday 25 July. The F2052SH was reviewed and closed on 20
July. By Thursday 23 July he had started work in the upholstery workshop.
7.26 On 17 July, Officer Thompson recorded in Mr Lodge’s history sheets 1 that, at his
request, he made enquiries about whether the police would pursue the alleged assault
on Officer Brownley at Risley and told Mr Lodge that it was not yet known whether the
charge would be pursued.
7.27 In a letter the same day, Mr Lodge asked his girlfriend to arrange for his solicitor
to visit “as I have just been informed the police will take action for what happened at
Risley”. He claims to be confident there is nothing to worry about. In the same letter he
says that officers are “still trying to get me to kick off…now they know the score”.
7.28 Mr Lodge’s letters from E wing relate several adverse encounters with prison
staff. In an undated letter, Mr Lodge says he has just done five weeks (which would be
Saturday 18 July) and has to go in front of the governor tomorrow for “that little incident
the other morning at breakfast”. He also writes disparagingly about prison officers. He
says they are trying to provoke him.
7.29 In another undated letter from the period before Mr Lodge started work, he refers
to a reprimand from a governor and more problems with prison officers on the way back.
On Sunday 19 July, Mr Lodge writes that he has “just been nicked again, right in the
middle of church”. He seems to interrupt the letter, saying he has just been shouted at
on the landing and “here we go again…for another nicking”. Resuming the letter, he
says he has just been banned from church and had “another bollocking”. In another
undated letter from E wing, Mr Lodge tells his girlfriend he has just had another problem
1 Form F2052A Record of Events is commonly known as the ‘history sheets’. It forms part of a prisoner’s
individual record and contains a record of significant events. It is held on the residential unit where the
prisoner is based.
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