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Inspectors returning to HMP Wandsworth, an inner-city male reception prison serving the London courts, found that progress on recommendations made in the last inspection was inconsistent. When they last visited in September 2021, inspectors had been concerned to find an overcrowded jail where prisoners felt unsafe. There was a lack of oversight of use of force, poor mental health support, and a severely limited regime.

Inspectors returning to HMP Erlestoke were encouraged to find a prison that had made reasonable or good progress against 11 of the 13 recommendations they followed up. The Wiltshire jail was last inspected in 2021, when violence and self-harm levels were rising, staff-prisoner relationships were poor, and living conditions were inadequate.

The inspection of Colnbrook immigration removal centre found an experienced leadership team delivering reasonable outcomes for detainees despite its prison-like design and weaknesses in Home Office engagement. The centre, situated next to Heathrow and run by Mitie Care and Custody, held 184 detainees at the time of the inspection, and was judged reasonably good in all healthy establishment areas.

In this blog, Charlie Taylor explores purposeful activity findings from inspections of four category C prisons: Rochester, The Mount, Brixton and Coldingley.

Inspectors to HMP&YOI Doncaster, a category B reception and resettlement prison in South Yorkshire, found a safe and well-led establishment. As a busy and complex prison, catering for a wide variety of men and young adults – including 165 foreign nationals and 170 men convicted of sexual offences – it did well to maintain mostly good outcomes for those held.

Inspectors to HMP Elmley, a category B and C prison, found a facility that had made little progress since the last inspection nearly three years ago. The Isle of Sheppey prison was judged ‘not sufficiently good’ in all four healthy prison tests. Education provision was particularly poor for the 1,095 men held there, and governance of use of force had slipped.

It is almost three years since my predecessor Peter Clarke announced an Urgent Notification for HMYOI Feltham A following an unannounced inspection. He pointed to a “dramatic decline” in performance at the YOI and “numerous significant concerns about the treatment and conditions of children” held there.

Inspectors to HMYOI Feltham A, a young offender institution (YOI) in north-west London, found an establishment recovering from a worrying decline. In 2019 the Chief Inspector had invoked the Urgent Notification (UN) process due to the chaos and violence in Feltham, and it was pleasing to see a safer, happier, and more productive environment at this visit.

Inspectors to HMP Bedford, a category B local men’s prison with a resettlement function, found very promising progress and a sustained focus on improving change in the failing jail. Over the last three years the governor had developed a clear vision for HMP Bedford after the Urgent Notification was invoked in 2018, driving improvement in a prison that Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons, described as “dangerous, understaffed and dilapidated” at the time of the leadership change.

Inspectors returning to HMYOI Cookham Wood, a young offender institution in Kent, found that progress had been inconsistent since their last full inspection in August 2021. At the 2021 inspection, inspectors been concerned about the high levels of violence, lack of purposeful activity, and poor behaviour going unchallenged by staff.