Today, HM Inspectorate of Prisons published their report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Thameside – and we’re proud that Catch22’s work has been recognised as “innovative,” “positive,” and “effective.”
Our Offender Management Unit (OMU) at HMP Thameside is the only one in the country delivered by a third sector organisation. It is one of 21 services within Catch22’s Justice Hub, alongside our Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS), victim support, and many others. This breadth of delivery gives us a wide-reaching understanding of the justice system and the challenges within it.
Across all these services, we are committed to creating a positive environment for staff, ensuring strong governance and quality assurance, delivering high-quality interventions, and working collaboratively with partners. We’re pleased that this report has recognised Catch22’s success in achieving these outcomes within HMP Thameside.
Matt Randle, Director of Justice at Catch22, said:
“I started my career at Catch22 in Thameside 12 years ago, so I’m incredibly proud to see how the service has grown. As the only Offender Management Unit in the country delivered by a third sector organisation, it’s a unique model – and one that proves charities can deliver impactful, high-quality offender management through relational and innovative approaches.
Operating in a busy inner-city local prison gives us valuable insight into the criminal justice system – from sentence management and risk assessment to security protocols and multi-agency collaboration. These insights shape our wider service delivery and help us design interventions that complement and strengthen the system. It’s fantastic to see that this has been recognised by inspectors.”
Catch22 Offender Management Unit (OMU) and Gangs service
Catch22 runs the Offender Management Unit (OMU) at HMP Thameside, supporting men from the point of sentence or recall through to transfer or release. Our team plays a vital role in public protection by contributing to release plans, managing risks, and participating in multi-agency forums. We build meaningful relationships with the men we work with, offering sentence planning, one-to-one offending behaviour work, in-cell activity packs, and emotional support. We also guide those recalled to custody through the parole process, manage Home Detention Curfew (HDC) applications, transfers, and provide remand prisoner advice. Alongside the OMU, our discreet gangs service identifies and supports men with gang associations. The report highlights the challenges that the prison faces, and the difficulties faced by inmates and staff. We value our partnerships with prison colleagues and are proud of the support that we are able to offer our partners in managing this challenging context.
The inspection report acknowledges the challenges faced by the prison, staff, and men in custody – and we’re proud to stand alongside our prison colleagues in delivering support in such a complex environment. We were especially pleased to see the Inspectorate’s recognition of Catch22’s innovation, quality interventions, staff wellbeing, and collaborative approach.
Innovation
The report praises Catch22’s offender management model as an “innovative, commissioned model” where caseloads are “manageable” and meaningful contact with prisoners is maintained. We’ve worked hard to structure our service to prioritise public protection while ensuring manageable workloads and effective support for those in our care. We’re delighted this approach is making an impact:
“At Thameside, probation prison offender managers had large caseloads – including one with 90. In contrast, the rest of the population was looked after by Catch22 staff in an innovative, commissioned model in which caseloads were manageable and contact was maintained with prisoners.”
Quality interventions
At Catch22, we believe offender management should go beyond public protection to actively support rehabilitation and personal development. We’re proud that our interventions were included in the report’s “Examples of notable positive practice,” which highlighted the wide range of interventions that our POMs deliver, “some of which were offence related while others focused on personal well-being and development.”
“Catch22 had an impressive range of individualised interventions for POMs to deliver”
Inspectors noted that service users were able to describe “learning points from the intervention(s) they had completed” – a powerful testament to the impact of our work. In the past year alone, our Prison Offender Managers (POMs) delivered over 350 interventions, reflecting the dedication and commitment of our frontline staff.
Specialist expertise
Catch22 brings expertise across a wide range of services – from violence reduction in prisons, to supporting people on probation, to helping young people affected by county lines. This breadth of experience informs our work at HMP Thameside, including our specialist gangs service, which the report describes as:
“The management of gangs was effective, with Catch22 providing a small, knowledgeable team to focus on the identification, monitoring and interventions for this group.”
We’re also proud the report recognised our ROAD programme, supporting those with gang affiliations both in custody and the community – helping individuals reflect on their choices and move forward.
Strong quality assurance
The Inspectorate commended our commitment to quality assurance, stating:
“The Catch22 team had a robust set of quality assurance processes, which were used to inform individual supervision sessions.”
We take pride in our governance and continuous improvement, ensuring our services deliver on their promises and adapt to emerging needs.
Supporting our staff
At Catch22, we believe a positive, supportive work environment is essential across all our services – especially in the challenging context of a custodial setting. We were pleased to see this commitment reflected in the report:
“All POMs had regular supervision with a manager and could access case support from the inhouse psychology team and take part in group reflective practice sessions… POMs described a positive work environment in which expertise was shared between Catch22 and Probation Service staff, and the managers of the two teams were mutually supportive.”
We’re proud that our frontline staff feel supported and empowered to carry out their critical work.
Collaboration at the heart
At Catch22, we know collaboration drives better outcomes and strive for good partnership working across all of our services. The report highlights the strong partnerships we’ve built within HMP Thameside, supporting joined-up approaches to safety and rehabilitation:
“There was good information sharing with safety and security teams, which supported the day-to-day management of these individuals, making sure that incidents between rival gangs were minimal.”
“[POMs] described a positive work environment in which expertise was shared between Catch22 and Probation Service staff, and the managers of the two teams were mutually supportive.”
The report also noted that the work of Turning Point ‘through-the-gate’ workers “was closely coordinated with the offender management unit”, to ensure “continuity at a time of vulnerability”.
We’re grateful for these partnerships and remain committed to working collaboratively for better outcomes.
Looking ahead
We are incredibly pleased to see Catch22’s work recognised in this inspection report. Supported staff, innovation, collaboration, and strong quality assurance are values we hold at the heart of everything we do – whether in custody or through our other services like Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) and victim services.
We look forward to building on this positive feedback and continuing to deliver meaningful, effective support to those we work with every day.
Safiyya Hussein, Head of OMU in HMP Thameside, said:
“It’s been another challenging year for prisons – particularly for Offender Management services – with the ongoing prison population crisis. I’m incredibly proud of the entire OMU and Gangs teams at HMP Thameside. I’m grateful for the opportunity to demonstrate the innovative, collaborative work Catch22 has delivered over the past year, and pleased that this has been recognised by the inspectorate in their feedback.”