HMP/YOI Peterborough (Women)

What we found

At the time of inspection, Peterborough was generally safe with supportive relationships between staff and prisoners. Help to maintain family connections and living conditions were good. But Peterborough lacked a purposeful regime, with work being menial, education inadequate, and enrichment and recreation activities limited. However, work to prepare women for release was generally good despite high caseloads.

Points to note

The Peterborough site compromises a prison for women next to one for men run by the same leadership team. The men’s site is much larger, and there was a risk that policies designed for the men’s site were not applied wholesale to the women’s site. For example, there were no self-harm, violence reduction, or resettlement strategies, or action plans, specific to women. Staff vacancies limited mental health service support.