THE governance of Jersey’s prison service is to come under scrutiny following a £900,000 overspend last year and the near-completion of a £24 million improvement programme.
Comptroller and Auditor General Lynn Pamment is launching an audit to assess whether effective systems are in place to oversee La Moye Prison, manage its finances and risks and hold decision-makers to account.
The States of Jersey Prison Service recorded a £907,000 overspend against its £12.6 million budget in 2025.
It was attributed in significant part to pressure on engineering, stores and kitchen services following steep inflation and growth in the prison population.
The prison is budgeted to receive net revenue expenditure of £12.75 million this year, falling slightly to £12.66 million by 2029. Its workforce is also due to reduce from 152 full-time-equivalent posts in 2025 to 151.
The audit will examine whether the service has effective systems for budgetary control and whether managers receive “relevant, accurate and timely” information and take corrective action when required.
It will also consider how the prison monitors risk, operates internal controls and prevents and detects fraud.
The review comes as a long-running programme of improvements at La Moye approaches its conclusion.
The States allocated £24.36 million for phased Prison Improvement Works in 2019. By the end of last year, all but £660,000 had been spent, with the remaining sum included in this year’s Budget to complete the eighth phase.
Auditors will assess the prison’s internal structure, its arrangements with organisations providing some services and the oversight exercised by the Justice and Home Affairs Department and the wider government.
The role of the Independent Prison Monitoring Board, which oversees prisoners’ treatment and welfare, the condition of the premises and the prison’s administration, will also be examined.
The audit will consider how the service is responding to findings made by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons following an inspection in November 2024. However, it will not conduct its own assessment against the inspectorate’s standards.
The review will begin with a request for documents before auditors interview senior officers and potentially other stakeholders.
Fieldwork is due to start this month and will be undertaken by affiliates appointed by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The Probation and After-Care Service is excluded because a separate audit of that organisation began last month.
