News

In this blog, Angus Jones, HMI Prisons Team Leader for Children and Young People, talks about the sustained failure to improve outcomes for the small number of children in custody.

Following a visit to the impressive Oakwood, Charlie Taylor discusses how strong leadership, high expectations of prisoners, and a culture of prisoner-led initiatives are at the heart of its achievements.

Following a very positive inspection of Close Supervision Centres (CSCs), which hold some of the most dangerous men in the prison system, Charlie Taylor reflects on the important work being done in CSCs and the stark contrast with conditions on the rest of the estate.

Following a worrying inspection at Hindley, Charlie Taylor reflects on the causes and consequences of a resurgence in drugs in prisons.

Sophie Riley, Head of Research, Data and Thematics at HMI Prisons, explains why we have worked with Royal Holloway to make 20 years of prisoner survey data available to other researchers.

Earlier this year, we began publishing easy read summaries of our reports on prison inspections. Tamsin Williamson, Communications and Publications Manager at HMI Prisons, led the project and explains here why this was so important to the organisation.

Last March, HMI Prisons and Ofsted published a report into the teaching of reading in prisons. Having previously been a teacher, I was concerned about the low levels of literacy I had seen in our prisons and our report confirmed some of my worst fears.

At every inspection, HMI Prisons assesses the progress of the prison against four areas – safety, respect, purposeful activity and rehabilitation and release planning – and awards a score: four for good; three for reasonably good; two for not sufficiently good; and one for poor.

Last month, we published "Thematic review: The experiences of adult black male prisoners and black prison staff". One of the recommendations for building trust put forward by prisoners and staff was making and sharing food together. In this blog, lead inspector Hindpal Singh Bhui shares his experience of visiting a prison to see how this can work in practice.

Blog from Hindpal Singh Bhui, lead inspector for the thematic review into the experiences of adult black male prisoners and black prison staff.