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Conditions for prisoners held in HMP Swaleside in Kent were still not good enough, said inspectors who visited the Isle of Sheppey prison in October. The last full inspection in 2018 of the category B training prison for men – part of the high security and long-term estate – had raised sufficient concerns to lead to a follow-up independent review of progress in 2019. This had found insufficient or no meaningful progress in eight out of 12 previous recommendations.

A women’s prison has been assessed by HM Inspectorate of Prisons as poor for safety in a “rare and unexpected finding” in a recent inspection, which identified very high violence and self-harm and inadequate care for vulnerable women.

HMP & YOI Rochester, in Kent, was found by inspectors to be reasonably safe and settled, despite some poor living conditions for prisoners.

Styal women’s prison in Cheshire remained safe and respectful, inspectors found, but faced the challenges of staffing shortages and an increase in lower-level violence as a result of frustrations with COVID-19 restrictions.

Inspectors who visited the heavily overcrowded, vermin-infested HMP Wandsworth men’s prison in September 2021 concluded that a reduction of 300 in the population, and dynamic work by the governor, had prevented it from being overwhelmed by its many challenges.