1.10 The Prison Service told us that Altcourse had generally performed well since opening and that there had been no major incidents or escapes. In 1999, HMCIP noted that the prison had been exceptional in that it had opened with few problems and the Inspectorate described Altcourse as 'the best local prison that we have inspected'10.
1.11 The Prison Service made financial deductions of £195,000, £108,000 and £34,000 in the first three performance years at Altcourse. The deductions in the first two years were lower than the amount specified by the contract to take into account early problems with contract monitoring. There have been no further deductions for performance in years four and five. During 2002, Altcourse accrued 3,964 performance penalty points against a baseline threshold of 6,849 points (Figure 9). These were mainly for assaults.
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10 HMCIP, Announced full inspection HMP Altcourse, November 1999, p 7.