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Regional Prison Intelligence Unit (RPIU)

The Regional Prison Intelligence Unit (RPIU) ensures the collection, use and management of intelligence gathered within the custodial estate. This intelligence is used to prevent, disrupt and prosecute criminal and terrorist activity within and outside custody.

The RPIU is your single point of entry for all enquiries related to any prison in England, Wales or Scotland.

The Unit consists of:

  • the Regional Prison Desk which can advise on prisons and prison tactics
  • Prisoner Intelligence Officers (PIOs) for all the South West custodial estates (both organised crime and Counter Terrorism)
  • the Multi-Agency Response to Serious and Organised Crime (MARSOC) team
  • the Counter Corruption Unit (CCU)

The South West region covers 11 prisons:

  • three remand prisons – HMP Bristol, HMP Exeter, and HMP Eastwood Park (a female remand centre)
  • seven Category C prisons – HMP Ashfield, HMP Erlestoke, HMP Guys Marsh, HMP Portland, HMP The Verne, HMP Dartmoor*, HMP Channings Wood
  • an open Category D prison – HMP Leyhill

*Dartmoor Prison is currently closed indefinitely with no official timeline for reopening.

Each establishment has a PIO embedded within it and a Counter Terrorism PIO.

The RPIU also has links with Vinney Green Secure Unit in South Gloucestershire.

Our services

Each specialist team can assist and advise on aspects of your operation or investigation once nominals are incarcerated or prior to their release.

The PIOs can:

  • gather, develop and disseminate intelligence from within prisons in relation to Serious Organised Crime (SOC) and national security issues
  • support HMPPS in relation to organised crime, national security, radicalisation and good order and discipline issues. We can therefore facilitate and advise you on ways to engage in proactive, disruptive activity on key nominals your force is investigating
  • conduct targeted prisoner debriefings, develop and exploit debriefing opportunities and CHIS recruitment within the prison estate
  • compile risk assessments on soon-to-be-released prisoners and liaise with the wider police service or other agencies to manage risk and disrupt and deter continuing criminality
  • contribute to and assist the work of local Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) panels
  • use their custodial experience to identify crime trends and behaviours and pass this intelligence on to forces and HMPPS
  • help you access a prisoner for PACE interview, forensic samples, ID procedures, postal requisition or intelligence interviews. Best practice is to speak to the PIO for the prison in the first instance to discuss the subject and their risk to good order and discipline in the prison. The PIO will then advise whether a legal visit or a full Home Office Production Order is the best process to meet your aims and objectives and talk you through the process

The MARSOC team can:

  • bring police, prisons, probation, the NCA and partners together to collectively identify and disrupt the highest harm SOC offenders in prison and under probation supervision
  • manage high-harm nominals identified by you, both in the custodial estate and in the community

The Regional Prison Desk can:

  • deal with all applications for Operational Partnership Team (OPT) activity, as well as prison productions and all general enquiries relating to prisons and custody
  • offer extensive advice and training to forces to complete written OPT applications, whilst maintaining an awareness of the available technical covert assets and their uses and limitations within the prison estate

The CCU can:

  • conduct investigations into referred HMPPS corruption cases within the prison and probation setting, through the agreed tasking protocol
  • support prosecution of corrupt HMPPS staff and those who seek to corrupt staff
  • analyse the relationship between corruption and wider criminality within our communities (organised crime and extremism) and share this with forces

Who can use our services?

  • Our work supports officers and staff working across intelligence and investigations functions

We are keen to offer initial advice on how our capabilities and other partners may be able to assist your investigation. Bids for capabilities then need to be taken to your Force Tasking meeting.

Email the RPIU

How to request services

Our Gateway, within the Regional Intelligence Unit, can provide more information about this service:

The Regional Intelligence Unit is available:

  • Monday to Friday 08:00 – 22:00
  • Weekends 08:00 – 16:30

For complex or resource-intensive requests, or requests for sensitive tactics, you will be asked to complete the BID Capability Form. Please refer to the Tasking Procedural Guidance about this process.

For urgent, out-of-hours enquires, call 01278 647 299 and the number will divert to the on-call SWROCU officer.

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