United Kingdom

Laws, programmes, and pilots changing how United Kingdom incarcerates — plus relevant research.

• SDS40 emergency early-release scheme2024–ongoing

  decarceration · active

  Faced with England & Wales prisons running out of cells in 2024, the new Labour government legislated to release most standard-determinate-sentence prisoners after 40% (rather than 50%) of their term served. The change applies to eligible prisoners across the existing population and to new sentences.

584 facilities in our database — showing the first 24.

Recent reports

• HMP Stoke Heath1 Jun 2026

  What should the prison do? We want the governor to read the report we wrote about Stoke Heath and make a plan. The plan should tell us how they will fix the problems at Stoke Heath and make things better for prisoners. You can find the report we wrote in the prison library. What do we want to happen? We want the prison to do more to stop drugs getting in. We want the prison to give more support to prisoners who might harm themselves. We want the prison to do more to help men who choose not to mix with other prisoners. We want prisoners to only share cells that are big enough for two people. We want broken things on E wing to be fixed. We want all prisoners to be able to go to work and education. We want them to learn useful things. We want prisoners to get more help with their reading skills. We want social visits to start on time. We want prisoners to have more key work sessions with an officer who knows them. What will we do? We will come back in a few years to check how well the prison is doing. We will write a report to tell people what we find. If you have any questions, please write to us: HM Inspectorate of Prisons 3rd floor 10 South Colonnade Canary Wharf London E14 4PU

  HMIP · source

• HMP Wayland11 May 2026

  What should the prison do? We want the governor to read the report we wrote about Wayland and make a plan. The plan should tell us how they will fix the problems at Wayland and make things better for prisoners. You can find the report we wrote in the prison library. What do we want to happen? We want officers to only use force on prisoners when they really need to. We want the prison to do more to stop drugs getting in. We want the prison to make sure staff know what to do if there is an emergency at night. We want prisoners with serious mental health problems to be transferred to a secure hospital quickly. We want broken things to be repaired quickly. We want the prison to be kept in better condition. We want waiting times for health care appointments to be shorter. We want prisoners to be given medicines in a safe way. We want prisoners to get more help to find a job before they leave Wayland. We want prisoners to be able to work every day, Monday to Friday. We want all prisoners to be able to go to activities that will help them. We want prisoners to be able to do the programmes and courses they need before they leave prison. We want prisoners who do not get visitors to get more support. What will we do? We will come back in a few years to check how well the prison is doing. We will write a report to tell people what we find. If you have any questions, please write to us: HM Inspectorate of Prisons 3rd floor 10 South Colonnade Canary Wharf London E14 4PU

  HMIP · source

• HMP Bullingdon13 Apr 2026

  Irp inspection of HMP Bullingdon (2026-04-13)

  HMIP · source

• HMP Leeds23 Mar 2026

  Irp inspection of HMP Leeds (2026-03-23)

  HMIP · source

• HMP Wormwood Scrubs16 Mar 2026

  Irp inspection of HMP Wormwood Scrubs (2026-03-16)

  HMIP · source

• HMP Pentonville16 Mar 2026

  Irp inspection of HMP Pentonville (2026-03-16)

  HMIP · source

• HM Prison Isis9 Mar 2026

  An experienced and innovative leadership team and an improved staffing situation had led to improvements at this South East London, category C prison that held 577 young men at the time of this inspection. With improvements from poor to not sufficiently good in both our purposeful activity and preparation for release tests, we were pleased to see progress in a prison that holds a volatile and risky population. The jail retained our top rating of good for respect and a rating of not sufficiently good for safety. At our last inspection, men with different London gang affiliations were held on different wings to prevent those in conflict from mixing. This had led to a highly restricted regime which fed, rather than addressed, the cycle of violence and retribution in which so many prisoners were trapped. The courageous governor had decided to introduce the ‘Peace Strategy’ which ended automatic, postcode-led placement and created a Peace spur for those who wished to serve their sentences away from the conflict that had been such a hallmark of the prison. These men were rewarded with more time out of cell and more enrichment activities. Some men on the Peace spur told me that they did not always get their entitlements and that the regime was sometimes restricted. Leaders will need to make sure that this does not become a regular occurrence, otherwise the benefits of behaving well will be undermined. The prison had also created a ‘growth’ spur for those prisoners who were unable to coexist with men with whom they had conflict. While the regime on this spur was very restricted, a well-motivated staff team used interventions that included the support of two older, life-sentenced prisoners from the Men of Purpose initiative to help men to move to a main location. In the months after this change, there had been a big increase in the rate of violence, particularly assaults on staff. By the time of our inspection, these had considerably reduced as prisoners begun to accept the change. Because they were no longer necessarily located with their friends or fellow gang members, a higher than usual proportion of prisoners said they were afraid and rates of violence remained too high. A further ‘peace’ wing was due to open shortly after the inspection as a further incentive to prisoners to behave well. The result of these changes there was a better regime than we had seen at our last inspection, and the work and training offer had improved. It was, however, taking too long to allocate prisoners to activities, too many of which were only part time. This led to many men being locked in their cells for up to 22 hours a day and overall, time out of cell was not nearly good enough. Attendance at education was disappointingly low in a jail where many of the young men had underachieved at school. The use of PAVA incapacitant spray was high and while use was proportionate in most cases, in some footage inspectors viewed, it was clear that staff were using it too readily. The prison was cleaner than at our last inspection, but standards were not good enough and leaders needed to do more to hold staff and cleaners to account for the state on their wings.

  HMIP · source

• HMP Exeter9 Mar 2026

  HMP Exeter remained a prison facing deep rooted and longstanding challenges, but one where determined leadership and a more stable staff group was beginning to make a real difference. When we last inspected in 2022, the prison was in serious difficulty, culminating in an Urgent Notification that highlighted grave weaknesses in safety, decency and the protection of those most at risk. At that time, the prison was struggling to keep people safe, and too many were spending long periods locked behind their doors with little to do. This inspection found a prison that was still far from where it needs to be, but one that was no longer overwhelmed. Leaders had brought clarity and purpose to the work of the jail, and the benefits of this were visible in several important areas. The governor, who took up post in 2023, had commendably shown a level of commitment to the prison that was desperately needed; he had built a

  HMIP · source