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HMI Prisons
@hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social
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Independent inspectorate reporting on conditions for and treatment of those in prisons, young offender institutions and immigration detention facilities.

Learn more at: https://hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/
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hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social
Almost 60% of women who offend have experienced domestic violence. We found some positive work in women’s prisons. In our report, ‘Time to care: what helps women cope in prison?’, one woman at HMP & YOI New Hall spoke about the charity ‘Together women’: “[They] are fantastic, they have over 400 women that email them constantly every day and they make you feel that you are number one on their list. They are a group of women that deal with street work, domestic violence… anything to do with women.” At HMP & YOI Drake Hall, we saw a dedicated domestic abuse support officer, who delivered one-to-one intervention to women and developed peer workers to support others. At HMP Send, prison staff had training sessions delivered by Brainkind, a national charity, about the impact of brain injury on behaviour, which affects a high proportion of women who had experienced physical abuse.
November 25, 2025 at 4:52 PM
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Today is White Ribbon Day, which highlights the issue of violence against women and girls.

Many women in prison have experienced abuse and need practical support to help them cope.

Find out more in our 'Time to Care' report: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmipris_repo...
25 November is White Ribbon Day, a time to raise awareness about preventing gender-based violence. It also marks the start of the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence, which runs until Human Rights Day on 10 December.
November 25, 2025 at 4:52 PM
hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social
HMP Ranby: drugs remained a concern, but committed leaders driving forward improvements.

Read the inspection report: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmipris_repo...

And the press notice: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/news/report-...
Report on an independent review of progress at HMP Ranby by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons 20-22 October 2025.
November 24, 2025 at 9:07 AM
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HMP Usk: At Usk, some prisoners and their children benefited from parent-teacher meetings following risk assessment. Teachers were offered a tour and introduction to the prison, which informed them about the prison context and the visiting experience for the child, thereby helping them to provide better support. HMP Chelmsford: The prison held ‘Soccer tots’ family days, which gave an opportunity for fathers and their children to maintain a relationship through fun and interactive play via football.
November 20, 2025 at 9:21 AM
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HMYOI Werrington: Werrington had appointed two kinds of child peer mentors. Some greeted and offered support to newly arrived children in reception and on the first night centre, and took part in the induction programme. The others were equality and diversity peer representatives, who helped leaders to better understand children’s views by representing their peers and their opinions in the equalities meetings. HMYOI Feltham A: Support for children sentenced to life and long sentences was good. This included therapy, one-to-one support and group meetings for children to support each other.
November 20, 2025 at 9:21 AM
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Today is World Children's Day, the anniversary of the Declaration and Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Below is some of the positive practice found in establishments holding children and for children with parents in prison.
World Children’s Day, 20 November On the anniversary of the Declaration and Convention on the Rights of the Child, we want to highlight some of the positive practice found in establishments holding children and for children with parents in prison.
November 20, 2025 at 9:21 AM
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Our researchers are conducting a survey at HMP & YOI Isis at the start of an inspection. If you have information about the establishment, please email: hmiprisons.enquiries@hmiprisons.gov.uk
Photograph of a prison visits hall with the HMI Prisons email address overlaid on top.
November 18, 2025 at 11:24 AM
hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social
Our researchers are conducting a survey at HMP Exeter at the start of an inspection. If you have information about the establishment, please email: hmiprisons.enquiries@hmiprisons.gov.uk
Photograph of a prison visiting hall, with the HMI Prisons email address overlaid on top.
November 18, 2025 at 10:33 AM
hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social
Deerbolt: limited progress to stem supply and use of drugs despite commendable efforts.

Read the inspection report: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmipris_repo...

And the press notice: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/news/reports...

See the healthy prison scores:
Report on an independent review of progress at HMP & YOI Deerbolt by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons 13-15 October 2025.
November 17, 2025 at 8:55 AM
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HMP Leicester: level of violence the highest of any similar reception prison.

Read the inspection report: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmipris_repo...

And the press notice: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/news/reports...

See the healthy prison scores:
Bar graph showing HMP Leicester healthy prison outcomes in 2023 and 2025, with safety dropping from reasonably good to not sufficiently good, respect and preparation for release remaining the same at reasonably good, and purposeful activity falling from not sufficiently good to poor.
November 17, 2025 at 8:51 AM
hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social
Also at HMP Liverpool, a newly equipped urgent care room enabled acutely unwell or injured patients to be transferred to a clinical environment for observation, tests and treatment. And the new ‘Connecting Communities’ initiative provided up to 12 weeks of health-related aftercare and support to prisoners on release.
November 12, 2025 at 9:29 AM
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All new prisoners at HMP Liverpool received a mental health assessment to identify anxiety or depression within 48 hours. This enabled the early identification of risks and prompt access to care. A triage phone line also provided a responsive health service accepting calls from patients in the morning between 8am and 9.30am.
November 12, 2025 at 9:29 AM
hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social
Every November, Movember aims to change the face of men’s health, encouraging people to unite to take on mental health, suicide, prostate cancer and testicular cancer. An establishment’s approach to mental and physical health is a focal point of any inspection. In our reports we often highlight the lack of mental health support and the under-resourced health care in men’s prisons, but at HMP Liverpool we saw excellent positive practice in these areas.
November 12, 2025 at 9:29 AM
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It's Movember! Let's take a look back at the positive practice highlighted in the HMP Liverpool report earlier this week in men's health!

Read the report: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmipris_repo...
November 12, 2025 at 9:29 AM
hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social
Our researchers are conducting surveys at HMP & YOI Low Newton and HMP Coldingley at the start of inspections. If you have information about either establishment, please email: hmiprisons.enquiries@hmiprisons.gov.uk
Photograph of a prison visiting hall, with the HMI Prisons email address overlaid on top.
November 10, 2025 at 1:32 PM
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HMP Liverpool: Recategorisation well managed, but many issues to address.

Read the inspection report: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk?post_type=hm...

And the press notice: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk?post_type=ne...

See the healthy prison scores:
Photograph of the exterior of HMP Liverpool, featuring a brick building with some plastic fascia boards and signage including a graphic with the prison name on it. There is a post with spotlights mounted on it and another post on which a flag is flying.
November 10, 2025 at 8:56 AM
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Reflecting on the HMP Bronzefield report published earlier this week, where we found that the number of recalls had doubled in the last 2 years, this blog digs deeper into short, fixed-term recalls across the women's estate.

Read the blog here: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/news/recall-...
November 7, 2025 at 9:28 AM
hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social
HMP & YOI Bronzefield: Mixed progress since last review, but doing reasonably well

Read the inspection report: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk?post_type=hm...

And the press notice: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk?post_type=ne...

See the healthy prison scores:
Bar graph illustrating the healthy prison outcomes scores for Bronzefield when it was inspected in 2022 and 2025. It shows that the scores for safety, respect and preparation for release stayed reasonably good, while the score for purposeful activity declined from reasonably good to not sufficiently good.
November 3, 2025 at 8:57 AM
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Our researchers are conducting a survey at HMYOI Wetherby & Keppel at the start of an inspection. If you have information about the establishment, please email: hmiprisons.enquiries@hmiprisons.gov.uk
Photograph of a visits hall, with the HMI Prisons email address overlaid on top.
October 27, 2025 at 2:52 PM
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HMP Bullingdon: Inadequate security allowing illicit drugs into prison

Read the inspection report: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk?post_type=hm...

And the press notice: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk?post_type=ne...

See the healthy prison scores:
Bar graph showing the healthy prison scores for HMP Bullingdon when it was inspected in 2022 and 2025. The scores for safety and respect declined from reasonably good to not sufficiently good, the score for purposeful activity remained poor, and the score for preparation for release remained not sufficiently good.
October 27, 2025 at 8:44 AM
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HMP Leeds: critical safety concerns putting prisoners at risk.

Read the report: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmipris_repo...

And the press release: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/news/critica...

See the healthy prison scores:
Bar chart showing the healthy prison outcomes at HMP Leeds in 2025 compared with 2022. Safety and purposeful activity had both declined from not sufficiently good to poor; respect and preparation for release had declined from reasonably good to not sufficiently good.
October 21, 2025 at 7:37 AM
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On #WorldStatisticsDay let's take a look back at our Head of Research, Data and Thematics' blog on how the effective use of data in prisons can bring about improvements for prisoners and staff.

Read the blog: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/news/unlocki...
Unlocking insights: how data can help transform prisons By Sophie Riley, Head of Research, Data and Thematics
October 20, 2025 at 10:28 AM
hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social
What happens to prisoners on a Friday?

Are regimes similar to Monday to Thursday, with some access to activity, or is Friday the start of a long weekend of lock up? Sara Pennington led a team of inspectors to find out.

Read the blog: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/news/what-ha...
October 17, 2025 at 7:56 AM
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With the publication of the ‘Just passing time’ thematic review, Chief Inspector, Charlie Taylor, outlines the problems with current work and training provision in adult prisons and his concerns that cuts will make things worse.

Read the blog: hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/news/what-do...
October 15, 2025 at 9:52 AM
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Our researchers are conducting a survey at HMP Whitemoor at the start of an inspection. If you have information about the establishment, please email: hmiprisons.enquiries@hmiprisons.gov.uk
Photograph of a prison visits hall with the HMI Prisons email address overlaid on the image.
October 13, 2025 at 1:10 PM