The level of violence at Swaleside Prison and quantity of weapons discovered there are worrying, say the authors of the latest report on the facility.

But despite the challenges the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) report into the running of the category-B Eastchurch prison states: “Swaleside has maintained a safe and decent environment for prisoners.”

It adds: “The relationship between staff and prisoners is good”.

The IMB says the prison has suffered because of cuts in staff numbers, which have resulted in a haemorrhaging of experienced personnel.

The board blames the government agency the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) for the shortages, stating: “Too many staff were allowed voluntary redundancy during the year due to lack of forward planning by NOMS. As a result, a vast amount of irreplaceable experience was lost.”

Recruitment and staff absences have added to problems, meaning prisoners have to be locked in their cells for longer, reducing their free association time.

The report states: “Whilst the Governor’s priority is safety for the staff and prisoners, from the standpoint of the treatment of prisoners, this situation is unacceptable.”

But it adds that prisoners have been understanding of the new restrictions they were placed under as the governor had introduced “excellent communication with prisoners and staff”.

Lack of staff had delayed the introduction of a New Ways of Working programme at the prison, because of safety concerns.

An insufficient number of escort staff had also resulted in the cancellation of many prisoners’ hospital appointments.

Mental health issues included too many prisoners with severe psychiatric problems and the difficulty in getting immediate help, plus a shortage of nurses.

On the plus side, the report praises the introduction of a service for prisoners with personality disorders, saying it has the “potential to be of great therapeutic benefit”.

Trading of contraband between prisoners, particularly medication, was recorded as a problem, while the high level of prescribing for the painkiller tramadol was also of concern to the board.

The 1,112-capacity Swaleside prison was opened in August 1988, and forms part of a group with Her Majesty’s Prisons Standford Hill and Elmley.

During the period of the report, there were 74 assaults – 52 of which were prisoner-on-prisoner and 22 prisoner-on-staff.

Progression of lower-risk prisoners at Swaleside to lower-security category-C prisons has worsened and is causing difficulties.

The number of prisoners taking and trading in the pain killer tramadol has increased
Problems identified in the previous year’s report still persisted, including poor staff morale, which had improved but “remained variable”. There were also high levels of staff sickness.

The report says budget restrictions have continued to impact on operations and cuts were continuing.

Use of Force documentation was not produced to the board as agreed and was “inadequately completed” for much of the year.

An over-50s’ forum for prison has had a positive impact on the Swaleside community.

The report covered the period May 2013 to April 2014.