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Dangerous levels of violence creating fear and despair at high-risk prison

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An inspection of HMP Swaleside has led the Chief Inspector of Prisons to issue an Urgent Notification to the Secretary of State for Justice after inspectors discovered dangerously unsafe conditions for prisoners and staff.

Swaleside had one of the highest rates of violence of all prisons in England and Wales, and in 2025 alone, six men had been assaulted or stabbed during their first night in the jail. Overall, a third of men told inspectors they had been assaulted by another prisoner and many said they currently felt unsafe. Drones, bringing in drugs and sometimes knives, were exacerbating the instability, which had not been helped by the lack of a permanent governor for many months in 2024 and 2025. Officers were failing to impose order and control: many lacked experience and were burnt out and demoralised from constant high levels of violence, and chronic, long-term understaffing.

Leaders had recently responded by introducing severe restrictions on the regime, which gave far too many prisoners barely more than an hour a day out of their cells. This had caused frustration and anger, and had intensified feelings of hopelessness and despair among the men.

The prison was filthy, with widespread graffiti, fire damage, broken furniture, dilapidated flooring and mouldy showers. Staff and prisoners reported underlying tensions between different cultural groups, with many men too frightened to go to health care appointments or use the gym. Swaleside was failing as a training prison: attendance at education and work was woeful despite enough activity places. There were serious gaps in public protection arrangements and too few opportunities for prisoners to address their offending behaviour. Many were deeply frustrated about the lack of progress they were able to make in their sentence. 

It was shameful that such an important and risky prison had been left without a permanent governor for such a long period. The current governor had only been in post for five months and although she had developed plans for improvement, there had been little progress in addressing serious challenges. Many hardworking staff were doing an impressive job in extremely difficult circumstances, but during our inspection we were very troubled by a palpable level of tension and a pervasive sense of despair in the jail.

The appalling outcomes we found at Swaleside, holding some of the most dangerous men in the country, represent serious failings by leaders in the prison service to address the systemic problems at this troubled jail.
Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor

Notes to editors

  1. This inspection took place between 1 and 11 December 2025.
  2. The letter announcing the Urgent Notification at HMP Swaleside and the debriefing paper were sent to the Secretary of State on 15 December 2025.
  3. The Urgent Notification process was introduced in 2017 and is a means of raising immediate, urgent concerns following an inspection which requires a response and action plan from the Secretary of State within 28 days. A full report from the inspection is still published in the normal time frame of within 14 weeks of the inspection. The Urgent Notification is supported by the evidence of the debrief from the inspection, which is presented to the governor, and which outlines the key issues which will be explored in more detail in the full report once published.
  4. We invoke an Urgent Notification by writing to the Secretary of State for Justice within seven calendar days of completing an inspection setting out our concerns. We also tell the governor of the prison that we are doing so. The Secretary of State then has 28 days following publication of the Urgent Notification to reply to us setting out an action plan of improvement. Find out more about Urgent Notifications: Urgent Notifications and IRPs – HM Inspectorate of Prisons
  5. The inspection team assesses the establishment’s performance against the applicable healthy establishment tests using the following judgements: 4 – outcomes for prisoners are good, 3 – outcomes for prisoners are reasonably good, 2 – outcomes for prisoners are not sufficiently good and 1 – outcomes for prisoners are poor. In this inspection, the scores were Safety – 1, Respect – 1, Purposeful activity – 1, Preparation for release – 1.
  6. Swaleside is the third prison in the long-term high security estate to be issued with an Urgent Notification. The other prisons are Manchester and Woodhill.
  7. HM Inspectorate of Prisons is an independent inspectorate, inspecting places of detention to report on conditions and treatment and promote positive outcomes for those detained and the public.
  8. Please email media@hmiprisons.gov.uk if you would like more information.