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UK Category A prison operated by HM Prison & Probation Service. Listed in the GOV.UK Find a prison directory.
Background
HMP Isle of Wight is a prison on the Isle of Wight, UK, combining the two island prisons, Albany and Parkhurst. On 1 April 2009, the two prisons (along with Camp Hill which closed in 2013) were merged with each site retaining their old names. Across the two sites there are over 1,000 prisoners, making it one of the largest prisons in the country.
high security estate. At the time of our visit, there was a population of the population were now category C; a proportion that was continuing made the following judgements about outcomes for prisoners. Figure 1: HMP Isle of Wight healthy prison outcomes in 2019 and 2022 Poor security risk than the majority category B population we encountered when we experienced a significant deterioration in some important outcomes. It was still not safe enough; outcomes in respect had worsened, and in our healthy prison judged outcomes to be poor, a considerable indictment for a training prison.
— UK IMB Annual Report (2025) —
Safety: 4.1 Reception and induction All arrivals and departures to and from HMP Isle of Wight are processed in a common reception area, which also includes prisoners on remand from the local Isle of Wight courts. Reception is located on the Albany site. Throughout the reporting year, the prison has seen a continuation of the trend shown in 2024, i.e. that of a limitation in prisoner movements over the [...]
Respect: 5.1 Accommodation and food Accommodation Accommodation is spread over two sites. Parkhurst dates to the 1830s, with typical infrastructure issues for buildings of that date. Certain parts of the site are prone to flooding and roof vents that are jammed open have been a problem, leading to flooding of several wings during heavy rain. There are 49 double-occupancy cells, which were not designed for [...]
Purposeful activity: All new prisoners are seen by the education team and offered a rapid screener for their learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD) needs, which can be followed up by an in-depth screener to pin-point neurodiversity needs. The data is used to help plan the prisoner’s journey through education and work. Courses available include English and maths (Entry Levels 1, 2 and 3, plus Levels 1 and 2). IT [...]
Preparation for release: The work of the offender management unit (OMU) has been impacted by staff shortages. Probation POMs (prison offender managers) have caseloads of 120 prisoners, which should be 50/60. The funding is available, but issues of recruitment to the Isle of Wight remain a problem. This is exacerbated by the requirement that new applicants must agree to a rolling programme where they become community [...]
Visiting
high security estate. At the time of our visit, there was a population of All visits carried out by HM Inspectorate of Prisons contribute to the UK’s response to its requires that all places of detention are visited regularly by independent bodies – known as recommendations to be followed up, IRP visits may be conducted jointly with Ofsted inspection visits. During our three-day visit, we will collect a range of evidence about the progress in
Mailing
Underpinning many of our criticisms was the lack of care and investment in the
Practical info
tests of purposeful activity and rehabilitation and release planning, we now mission of reducing reoffending. Prisoners had very little time out of cell, routines were unpredictable and access to work, education, and activity was Offending behaviour interventions and resettlement initiatives were similarly was undermining much of the prison’s work and attempts at improvement. with managing the risks and eventual resettlement of men convicted of sexual Council. This joint work ensures expert knowledge is deployed and avoids multiple 1 HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ healthy prison tests are safety, respect, purposeful activity and rehabilitation and release
Known issues
While we found a jail that was generally calm and settled, data about violence was mixed, there had been seven self-inflicted deaths since we last inspected and the level of self-harm, despite some useful interventions, was very high.
Contact & address
HMP Isle of Wight Albany House Newport Isle of Wight PO30 5RS See map, Wight PO30 5RS
Higher risk than 0% of peer facilities in United Kingdom.
Capacity (beds)this: 1090 · peers avg: 566 (+93%)
Reports
NPM-uk-imb-respect1 Jan 2025
5.1 Accommodation and food Accommodation Accommodation is spread over two sites. Parkhurst dates to the 1830s, with typical infrastructure issues for buildings of that date. Certain parts of the site are prone to flooding and roof vents that are jammed open have been a problem, leading to flooding of several wings during heavy rain. There are 49 double-occupancy cells, which were not designed for multiple occupancy, with in-cell toilets. Prisoners eat their meals in their cells. These ageing facilities compound the challenges prisoners have faced this year with restricted regimes and weekend wing closures (see section 6.6) Lack of heating and hot water in Parkhurst continued to be a significant issue during the year, due to boiler and plumbing issues. During routine monitoring, prisoners raised concerns with us that during weeks without hot water, one shower per week at the gym was insufficient to maintain personal hygiene, particularly for those working in manual jobs, including waste. The infrastructure issues, such as hydraulic gates at both sites, CCTV and roofs, are considerable and require oversight by both the Governor and Deputy Governor, which is likely to impact their operational roles. Albany opened in 1967, on the site of a former military barracks. Apart from the social care houseblock, all cells are single occupancy, without toilets or running water. Communal toilets/showers are used during the day, but at night there is an electronic system of night sanitation [...]
The work of the offender management unit (OMU) has been impacted by staff shortages. Probation POMs (prison offender managers) have caseloads of 120 prisoners, which should be 50/60. The funding is available, but issues of recruitment to the Isle of Wight remain a problem. This is exacerbated by the requirement that new applicants must agree to a rolling programme where they become community offender managers (COMs) after five years, potentially therefore working on the island as a COM or having to move to the mainland. The offender management unit (OMU) attempts to keep the impact on prisoners as low as they can through embedding the wing POM sessions, but the success appears to have been variable. --- Prisoner outcomes are primarily affected by, firstly, OASys (a core tool used to assess the risks and needs of any offender) backlogs, which, on average, run at 30- 45 overdue at any one time. Secondly, sentence reassessments: on average, 80 are overdue at any one time. Thirdly, insufficient one-to-one work in areas such a ‘steps for positive change’ or victim empathy work, all of which can contribute to a risk for re-offending. Fourthly, the department is struggling to cover the basics and not able to do any enhanced work with prisoners. In respect of programmes, 2025 has been a year of transition, with staff undertaking training to deliver the Building Choices course. Building Choices is the new offending behaviour programme with a ‘person first’ approach, and replaces the [...]
All new prisoners are seen by the education team and offered a rapid screener for their learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD) needs, which can be followed up by an in-depth screener to pin-point neurodiversity needs. The data is used to help plan the prisoner’s journey through education and work. Courses available include English and maths (Entry Levels 1, 2 and 3, plus Levels 1 and 2). IT (Entry Level 3), business studies (Levels 1, 2 and 3, including mentoring at Level 2), painting and decorating (Level 2), art (Levels 1 and 2), plus reading and more. Education classes observed throughout the year appear supportive to prisoner needs, with helpful input from peer mentors. The department has a calm atmosphere and we saw examples of good relationships between prisoners and tutors. Particularly impressive outcomes with excellent tutor support were noted this year in the Parkhurst painting and decorating class, where both prisoners and tutor spoke with pride about the work they engage with. The department tries to support prisoners in the segregation and reintegration unit (SARU) and those on remand, but numbers accessing this provision unfortunately remain very low. Prisoners on the supported wing, where individuals have higher levels of physical and neurodiverse needs, receive additional educational support through weekly sessions delivered by an art teacher. The department has clear strategies for attendance management. The Board has observed the numbers attending now [...]
4.1 Reception and induction All arrivals and departures to and from HMP Isle of Wight are processed in a common reception area, which also includes prisoners on remand from the local Isle of Wight courts. Reception is located on the Albany site. Throughout the reporting year, the prison has seen a continuation of the trend shown in 2024, i.e. that of a limitation in prisoner movements over the period due the general level of prison population throughout the country; however, the remand wing has continued to remain busy during the year. The Board regularly monitors the processing of all arrivals and departures and has observed throughout the consideration and care shown by staff to arriving and departing prisoners. The arrival process during normal core hours has been regularly observed as efficient and well managed. Reception staff are welcoming, providing a great deal of reassurance to prisoners. Board members have frequently spoken with incoming prisoners, many of whom have confirmed that they feel safe and secure. Initial health screening is carried out at this stage, with additional support provided by the presence of prisoner Listeners (who are trained by the Samaritans to offer confidential emotional support to other prisoners) or mentors (trained prisoners who offer guidance reassurance and practical help to other prisoners). Peer support for the transition into a new unfamiliar prison is particularly well covered and valuable at this stage. The use of verbal [...]
A total of 11% of the prison population is engaging in education. Much of the budget is spent on maths and English, and the overall budget has not risen whilst waiting for the new education contract to be awarded, which will be in spring 2025. Internal difficulties with planning were caused by the delay to the award of the new education contract and due to population changes being implemented outside the prison’s control. Resources have continued to focus on entry level maths and English to address the historic category B population’s requirements and little progress has been made on providing level two and three qualifications suitable for many of the category C population. This has been cemented by the projection that HMP Isle of Wight will be predominately a category B prison by the end of 2025. The HMIP inspection report of 2022-2023 highlighted the need for a clear reading strategy, and this has encouraged the focus on entry level education. However, the distance learning education offering is well supported, with a specific member of staff assigned to facilitate this. New laptops have been supplied and extra time for study in the library has been granted. Nearly 50% of enrolments on courses are prisoners with learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD). All new receptions have rapid LDD screening and in-depth LDD screening is given to those requiring it and results are shared with the activities team and neurodiversity manager. There is now an inclusion practitioner [...]
5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food Food The amount of money spent on prisoner food is overspent by the prison each month: prisoner allocation is £3.07 per day, but £3.17 is budgeted to be spent. The kitchens are providing five choices at lunch and dinner. Food should reflect the religious, cultural and medical requirements of the prisoners. Dinner choices are hot food, with vegan, vegetarian and halal choices. Other dietary requirements are catered for after supporting evidence is supplied. The cycle is every four weeks and a summer and winter menu are in operation. Information is supplied and is ‘available’ to all prisoners regarding healthy options, food additives and portion size per menu choice. These, however, are either not readily available and/or not easily read, as the type is too small. All wings have been requested to keep the information prominent and available, but it seems to vary from wing to wing. It is a legislative requirement that food should be served no longer than 45 minutes after the cooking process and that hot food should be at a temperature of 63oC. Board observations indicate this is not the case at the prison and temperature probing is not reflecting this on the wings. Each wing has a log book for recording the temperature of the hot food and for comments on the food and any shortages. There are frequent complaints about food not being kept to the correct temperature and the condition of trolleys contributes to this. All wings are asked to keep [...]
The offender management unit (OMU) has continued to work under great pressure throughout 2024. HMP Isle of Wight holds over 80% very high or high-risk prisoners, who can only be the responsibility of probation offender managers (POMs). The department should have 16.5 POMs, but there are only 6.5 in post. This means the case load for each is 150 prisoners, which is two-and-a-half times the expected caseload. Despite a national recruitment campaign, with incentives for relocation, there has been very little interest from POMs to move to the Isle of Wight (see the response to last report, section 3.3 answer to question 2). The prison employs nine prison staff offender managers. However, they cannot manage high-risk prisoners, although they can undertake transactional work and wing surgeries, which has led to a noticeable drop in applications about the OMU. The Board does see regular applications relating to OMU issues and always find the unit extremely happy to help and offer advice. Due to the workload, prisoners without a start of custody offender assessment plan, produced by the offender assessment system (OASys), peaked in January 2024, with 22 overdue; there are currently 10 overdue. The department has only managed to complete 30% of categorisation reviews on time, although the majority are completed before they are more than 10 days’ overdue. There are 38 prisoners engaging in programmes out of a potential 448 (47% of the total population). This equates to 3.5% of the [...]
4.1 Reception and induction During 2024, 158 prisoners arrived at HMP Isle of Wight from other prison establishments, while 325 were transferred to other prisons. These figures do not include the large number of remand movements from/to local courts or any local (Isle of Wight resident) releases; neither do they include any transitory movements, such as local hospital visits or transfers between the Albany and Parkhurst establishments. These figures reflect a churn of the order of nine prisoners per week over the year, which is comparable to the figures in the previous report. The decant of prisoners out of the establishment towards the end of the year, to accommodate the fire and safety improvements in house block19 and part of house block 20 (detailed in section 2, above), does skew these figures in terms of departures. Taking into account this managed decant, the figures reflect a continuation of the trend shown in 2023, i.e. that of a limitation in prisoner movements over the period due the general level of population throughout the country. The Board regularly monitors the processing of arrivals and departures and observed, throughout, the consideration and care shown by staff to arriving and departing prisoners. The arrival process (including initial health screening) in usual core hours, and when reception is adequately staffed, has been observed as efficient and well managed. Reception staff are welcoming and provide a great deal of reassurance to prisoners, while [...]
1.1
HMP Isle of Wight is a large category B men’s training prison
comprising two sites, Albany and Parkhurst. It is part of the long-term
high security estate. At the time of our visit, there was a population of
1,083 prisoners, mostly convicted of sexual offences, but about 70% of
the population were now category C; a proportion that was continuing
to grow. The prison also runs a small, separate unit for prisoners
remanded or given short sentences locally.
1.2
At our previous inspections of HMP Isle of Wight in 2019 and 2022, we
made the following judgements about outcomes for prisoners.
Figure 1: HMP Isle of Wight healthy prison outcomes in 2019 and 2022
Good
Reasonably
good
Not sufficiently
good
Poor
The Isle of Wight prison has existed in its current form since 2009, when historic
Parkhurst was amalgamated with the adjacent Albany, an institution dating from
the late 1960s. A third jail, Camphill, originally part of the cluster, subsequently
closed and has now been decommissioned.
Designated a category B training prison and part of the long-term high security
estate, the two sites contain a varied mix of accommodation types, which adds
a certain complexity to the institution. That said, the prison’s primary purpose is
quite clear. It holds nearly 1,000 men who, with the exception of a small number
of local islander remand or sentenced prisoners, have been convicted of serious
sexual offences. The vast majority are assessed as presenting a high risk of
harm to the public, although most are now category C, presenting a lower
security risk than the majority category B population we encountered when we
last inspected in 2019.
Since that last inspection, our assessments indicate that the prison had
experienced a significant deterioration in some important outcomes. It was still
not safe enough; outcomes in respect had worsened, and in our healthy prison
tests of purposeful activity and rehabilitation and release planning, we now
judged outcomes to be poor, a considerable indictment for a training prison.
While we found a jail that was generally calm and settled, data about violence
was mixed, there had been seven self-inflicted deaths since we last inspected
and the level of self-harm, despite some useful interventions, was very high.
Our observations of relationships between staff and prisoners were mixed.
Some staff were attentive, but others displayed a concerning indifference which
needed to be challenged.
Underpinning many of our criticisms was the lack of care and investment in the
general environment of the prison. The institution had lost its way in its core
mission of reducing reoffending. Prisoners had very little time out of cell,
routines were unpredictable and access to work, education, and activity was
intermittent. Support for rehabilitation was under resourced, and there was a
lack of direction and rigour to ensure that what little did take place was effective.
Offending behaviour interventions and resettlement initiatives were similarly
lacking. All of this combined to create a sense of indolence and frustration
among many in the prison.
Acute staff shortages, both of prison officers and more specialist disciplines,
was undermining much of the prison’s work and attempts at improvement.
Leaders were not unaware or indifferent to this; they were proactive and
creative in recruitment and the leadership support they were providing to those
staff deployed to the wings. Their general assessment of the strengths of the
institution and the priorities to be addressed was mostly accurate, particularly in
terms of operational management, but the lack of priority or effective vision for
the rehabilitative function of the prison was a considerable missed opportunity.
In their use of data, for example, leaders focused on how the prison compared
to other category B training prisons, and while this was understandable, it gave
insufficient weight to how the establishment compared with similar lower
category prisons or those with a specialist sex offender treatment function.
There was a sense that protecting the prison’s status as a category B long-term
establishment had become an informal priority and it was no surprise to us that
it lacked the purpose and rehabilitative ethos often found in other prisons tasked
with managing the risks and eventual resettlement of men convicted of sexual
offences.
Leaders seemed open and responsive to our assessment during the inspection.
There was clearly an urgent need to support the prison in providing the
specialist resources it required, and for careful thought about the purpose of this
Contents
HMP Isle of Wight
3
Contents
About this report
5
Key findings
7
Section 1. Chief Inspector’s summary
9
Section 2. Progress against the key concerns and recommendations
11
Section 3. Appendix
19
Review team
19
Contents
4
HMP Isle of Wight
Glossary of terms
We try to make our reports as clear as possible, but if you find terms that you do not know,
please see the glossary in our ‘Guide for writing inspection reports’ on our website at:
http://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/about-our-inspections/
About this report
HMP Isle of Wight
5
About this report
A1
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMI Prisons) is an independent, statutory
organisation which reports on the treatment and conditions of those detained in prisons,
young offender institutions, secure training centres, immigration detention facilities, police
and court custody and military detention.
A2
All visits carried out by HM Inspectorate of Prisons contribute to the UK’s response to its
international obligations under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture
and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). OPCAT
requires that all places of detention are visited regularly by independent bodies – known as
the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) – which monitor the treatment of and conditions
for detainees. HM Inspectorate of Prisons is one of several bodies making up the NPM in the
UK.
A3
Independent reviews of progress (IRPs) are designed to improve accountability to ministers
about the progress prisons make towards achieving HM Inspectorate of Prisons’
recommendations in between inspections. IRPs will take place at the discretion of the Chief
Inspector when a full inspection suggests the prison would benefit from additional scrutiny,
and will focus on a limited number of the recommendations made at the inspection. IRPs will
therefore not result in assessments against our healthy prison tests.1
A4
The aims of IRPs are to:
-
assess progress against selected key recommendations
-
support improvement
-
identify any emerging difficulties or lack of progress at an early stage
-
assess the sufficiency of the leadership and management response to our main concerns
at the full inspection.
A5
This report contains a summary from the Chief Inspector and a brief record of our findings
in relation to each recommendation we have followed up. The reader may find it helpful to
refer to the report of the full inspection, carried out in April/May 2019 for further detail on
the original findings.2
IRP methodology
A6
IRPs will be announced at least three months in advance and will take place eight to 12
months after the full inspection. When we announce an IRP, we will identify which
recommendations we intend to follow up (usually no more than 15). Depending on the
recommendations to be followed up, IRP visits may be conducted jointly with Ofsted
(England), Estyn (Wales), the Care Quality Commission and the General Pharmaceutical
Council. This joint work ensures expert knowledge is deployed and avoids multiple
inspection visits.
A7
During our three-day visit, we will collect a range of evidence about the progress in
implementing each selected recommendation. Sources of evidence will include observation,
discussions with prisoners, staff and relevant third parties, documentation and data.
1 HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ healthy prison tests are safety, respect, purposeful activity and rehabilitation and release
planning. For more information see our website: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/our-expectations/
2 https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/08/Isle-of-Wight-Web-2019.pdf.
About this r
