HMP Pentonville Urgent Notification
Urgent notification at HMP Pentonville (PDF, 150.1 KB)
Urgent Notification for HMP Pentonville issued on 16 July 2025.
Inspection debriefing paper
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“My reasons for issuing this Urgent Notification are:
Prisoners held beyond their release date: prison staff were failing to calculate sentences accurately. In the last six months, many prisoners had been illegally imprisoned beyond their release date.
Poor support for those at risk of self-harm: there had been three suicides at Pentonville in 2025. We found a widespread lack of support for prisoners at imminent risk of self-harm and the oversight of prisoners under constant supervision was shockingly poor.
Prisoners felt unsafe: first night and induction arrangements were chaotic and even frightening. Men were held in dirty, ill-equipped cells without bedding, furniture, telephones and pillows. Population pressures meant there were not enough spaces on the induction wing, increasing the risk for these vulnerable men. In our survey of prisoners, 44% told us they felt unsafe at the time of the inspection.
Poor time out of cell and allocation to activities: a large majority of prisoners spent more than 22 hours a day locked in their cells with nothing to do.
Leaders and staff failing to deliver the basics: too many officers were accepting of the poor living conditions, were failing to provide even basic care to prisoners, and seemed unable or unwilling to respond effectively to legitimate everyday requests. On one wing staff were unable to account for the whereabouts of their prisoners during the day.”
Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
The full list of reasons the Urgent Notification was issued can be read in the letter above.