Regime

The regime at Woodhill includes full-time and part-time classes. These include offending behaviour groups and courses on; enhanced thinking skills, drug management, developing your potential, relationships, life skills, and specific drugs life skills and development courses for young offenders. Other features include a Job Club, and listener schemes.

Resettlement:
HMP Woodhill has a multi – disciplinary Resettlement team, made up of Probation staff, Prison officers and Voluntary agencies, including Citizens Advice Bureau, Job Centre, Prisons Advice and Care Trust, Careers Enterprise and Revolving Doors.The Resettlement department aims to address issues that may obstruct an effective return to the community as a law-abiding citizen.Probation ServicesProbation officers working in Woodhill prison are seconded for periods of 3-5 years from Thames Valley Probation Service. We currently employ 1x Senior Officer, 5x Probation officers and 7x Probation Service Officers. The Main Tasks undertaken by the probation officers are:

Reports for life sentence reviews

Parole assessments reports

Sentence planning assessments/OASys management

Public Protection management

Resettlement management and post-course follow up for all accredited programmes

Pre-release co-ordination and casework

Individual assessments and work with prisoners who:

• Repeatedly return to the basic regime
• Repeatedly harm themselves
• Are repeat victims of bullying or who bully others
• Need individual work to reduce the risk of them re-offending or cause harm to others

Probation officers provide advice and support to personal officers and caseworkers. The probation officers are not based on the wings, and their knowledge of individual prisoners may be limited unless they are involved in one of the specified tasks with that prisoner.

CARATS:
The CARAT programme aims to provide a quick and co-ordinated means of identifying prisoners who have a drug problem.

Counselling
Assessment
Referral
Advice/information
Through-care

The Carats team will assess prisoners; provide on-going support and referral to outside agencies.

Detox:
HMP Woodhill has a successful Detox programme providing help and support to prisoners visiting to get themselves clean of drugs and remain drug free. The Detox centre uses a variety of methods varying from prescription of suitable medication, auricular acupuncture, yoga, education and group therapy.

Voluntary Drug Testing: Any prisoner at Woodhill can volunteer to sign a Voluntary Drug Testing Compact, which means that he receives regular and frequent drug tests. Many prisoners do so in order to help them resist the temptation of using drugs and/or:

Do not wish to use drugs

Have a drug history but wish to remain drug free

Have successfully completed the substance misuse course

HMP Woodhill has a dedicated drug free unit, House Unit 3. The aim of House Unit 3 is to provide a drug free environment and a constructive regime for prisoners, in order to support them as they strive to remain drug free.

Chaplaincy:
Woodhill has a multi-faith Chaplaincy designed to give the widest possible spiritual and pastoral care to the prisoners and staff. All the Chaplaincy staff, of whatever faith or denomination, is at the service of the entire establishment and may be called upon for assistance by anyone at any time.