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  1. Inspection debriefing paper

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HMP Swaleside Urgent Notification

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Urgent Notification at HMP Swaleside (PDF, 150.3 KB)

Urgent Notification for HMP Swaleside issued 15 December 2025.

Inspection debriefing paper (Back to top)

HMP Swaleside debrief paper
(PDF, 268 KB)

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“My reasons for issuing this Urgent Notification are:

The prison scored a rating of ‘poor’ across all four of our healthy prison assessments.

Violence: 75% of prisoners said they had felt unsafe in the prison. In 2025 alone, six men had been assaulted or stabbed during their first night in the jail. A third of men said they had been physically assaulted.

Drugs: Drug taking was rife, with drones regularly bringing in contraband, including knives.

Self-harm: There was a consistently high level of recorded self-harm, and a worrying number of fires set in cells.

Staffing issues: Chronic, long-term understaffing and constant high levels of violence left staff, many of whom were inexperienced, burnt out and demoralised.

Living conditions: Most wings were filthy. Too many cells were in a poor state of repair. There was widespread graffiti, fire damage, broken furniture, dilapidated flooring, and showers that were dirty, mouldy and poorly maintained.

Regime: Severe restrictions had been implemented which gave 44% of the population only 30 minutes unlocked on most weekdays. While this was increased to just over an hour during the inspection, it remained insufficient and inhumane.

Purposeful activity: The prison was failing in its core function as a training prison. Too many men had nothing to do all day, and activities that improved employability on release had ceased because of HMPPS cuts to education provision.

Public protection: There were serious gaps in the management and oversight of public protection arrangements, despite most prisoners being assessed as high risk.”

Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons

The full list of reasons the Urgent Notification was issued can be read in the letter above.

Read the press release