News

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.