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UK Open (Cat D) prison operated by HM Prison & Probation Service. Listed in the GOV.UK Find a prison directory.
Background
HM Prison Leeds is a Category B men's prison, located at Gloucester Terrace in the Armley area of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England, which opened in 1847. Leeds Prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service, and is still known locally as Armley Gaol, the historical name of the prison.
Despite the efforts of a committed leadership team, outcomes for prisoners had deteriorated across every healthy prison test since our last visit in 2022. The prison continued to face many challenges, including overcrowding, a transient population and rising levels of vulnerability among those held. HMP Leeds remains an overcrowded inner city Victorian reception meaningful activity for prisoners. In particular, we were concerned other leadership changes had been made which had slowed progress the following judgements about outcomes for prisoners.
— UK IMB Annual Report (2024) —
Safety: 4.1 Reception and induction 4.1.1 Prisoners are, in the main, received from West Yorkshire courts and other prisons. However, during the reporting year, prisoners were received from out of area (particularly the north east) as a consequence of the national prison population nearly reaching maximum capacity. The reception area has clear procedures and facilities in place for checking property, [...]
Respect: 5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food 5.1.1 As noted above, HMP Leeds was designed and built in the 1840s for 641 men women and children in single occupancy cells. It has been extended and adapted over many years, although sometimes in a piecemeal way. Most prisoners now share cells that have little access to fresh air. Windows can only be opened to a limited extent and cells can be stiflingly hot in [...]
Purposeful activity: 7.1.1 Novus: Foundations for Change runs the provision of education and the library. 7.1.2 There are two libraries in the prison, staffed by an off-site manager and two full- time and one part-time member of staff. The library holds a good selection of both fiction and non-fiction books and also has a significant number of foreign language books for those for whom English is not their first [...]
Preparation for release: 7.3.1 As a reception prison, HMP Leeds is organised to manage many movements of prisoners in and out of the establishment each day. Movements include a day’s visit to court and reception and back afterwards. 7.3.2 Each movement requires the careful completion of paperwork. 7.3.3 As the national prison population nears absolute capacity, pressures of placement mean men can be sent from cities such [...]
Visiting
deteriorated across every healthy prison test since our last visit in 2022. The despite the prison’s age, on this visit we were impressed by the excellent
Mailing
Format: Prisoner Name & Number, HMP Leeds, HMP Leeds 2 Gloucester Terrace Stanningley Road Leeds West Yorkshire LS12 2TJ See map Help us to improve this page. Give us your feedback in this 2-minute survey .. Use Send Money to a Prisoner (GOV.UK) for funds — cash not accepted.
Practical info
HMP Leeds, a busy category B reception and resettlement prison receiving HMP Leeds is reception and resettlement prison located near to the city centre receives into custody about 388 new prisoners every month and releases back improvements to the day-to-day regime, more time out of cell, and a greater and more consistent delivery of purposeful activity. As our report demonstrates, safer and to provide a fuller regime, but one which was reasonably respectful and was ensuring reasonable rehabilitation and resettlement outcomes. At this
Known issues
HM Inspectorate of Prisons completed a full inspection of HMP Leeds in July 2025, IRP inspections in March 2026 and July 2023, and full inspections in June 2022 and March 2020; reports are publicly available on the HMIP website.
Charles Arthur Salvador (born Michael Gordon Peterson; 6 December 1952; formerly known as Charles Ali Ahmed), better known by his professional name of Charles Bronson, is an English criminal notorious for his violent life both between and during multiple prison sentences.
HMP Leeds 2 Gloucester Terrace Stanningley Road Leeds West Yorkshire LS12 2TJ See map Help us to improve this page. Give us your feedback in this 2-minute survey ., Yorkshire LS12 2TJ
HMP Leeds, a busy category B reception and resettlement prison receiving
around 500 new arrivals a month, continued to operate under significant strain.
Despite the efforts of a committed leadership team, outcomes for prisoners had
deteriorated across every healthy prison test since our last visit in 2022. The
prison continued to face many challenges, including overcrowding, a transient
population and rising levels of vulnerability among those held.
7.1.1 Novus: Foundations for Change runs the provision of education and the library. 7.1.2 There are two libraries in the prison, staffed by an off-site manager and two full- time and one part-time member of staff. The library holds a good selection of both fiction and non-fiction books and also has a significant number of foreign language books for those for whom English is not their first language. Regime curtailments, due to staff shortages, can impact prisoners’ ability to access the central library. 7.1.3 One wing has particularly keen readers and the librarian visits to meet with them weekly. One prisoner has established his own book club. 7.1.4 Education classes are held either in the morning or the afternoon, with prisoners attending one session per day. The only exceptions to this are those studying to become prisoner information desk (PID) workers or those doing construction and catering classes, where the courses are full time. Subjects available include mentoring, ESOL (English for speakers of other languages), creative art, English and maths. 7.1.5 Attendance at classes is not always 100%. This can be due to prisoners being unwell or having video link appointments or because of serious incidents on a wing that has resulted in there being insufficient escorting officers. Non-attendance (which is monitored by the prison senior management team at its daily meeting) is always followed up by activities staff and up-to-date records appear to be maintained. 7.1.6 Some [...]
7.3.1 As a reception prison, HMP Leeds is organised to manage many movements of prisoners in and out of the establishment each day. Movements include a day’s visit to court and reception and back afterwards. 7.3.2 Each movement requires the careful completion of paperwork. 7.3.3 As the national prison population nears absolute capacity, pressures of placement mean men can be sent from cities such as Newcastle, Durham, Hull or Manchester to Leeds. Local Leeds men might then be sent to the Midlands. They have to be brought back within two days of their court appearance to West Yorkshire. This churn creates pressure not just at reception, for property, and with social visits, but also in the offender management unit (OMU). 7.3.4 Men sent out of their home area are unsettled by losing family contact visits and the increased likelihood of property going astray. 7.3.5 During the reporting year, the OMU team had to implement, at very short notice, the SDS40 scheme (a Government measure allowing eligible prisoners serving standard determinate sentences, or SDSs, to be released after serving 40% of their sentence, rather than the standard 50%). This required them to run over 1,000 sentence calculations to see which qualifying prisoners were entitled to be released early under the scheme. A total of eight were released. Understandably, this process put the team under significant pressure. 7.4.1 The prison has a published Family and Significant Others Services Strategy to establish [...]
4.1 Reception and induction 4.1.1 Prisoners are, in the main, received from West Yorkshire courts and other prisons. However, during the reporting year, prisoners were received from out of area (particularly the north east) as a consequence of the national prison population nearly reaching maximum capacity. The reception area has clear procedures and facilities in place for checking property, reviewing prisoners’ health and mental wellbeing and screening for illicit items (drugs, mobile phones, etc), which may be secreted about their persons. Anyone found to be secreting an item will be taken directly to the care and separation unit (CSU), where prisoners are segregated, until they scan clear. This preventive measure helps to ensure that drugs and other illicit items are not taken into the wider prison, where they could be used or distributed, with all the attendant risks to prisoner and staff wellbeing and safety. 4.1.2 During the reporting year, reception has, on occasion, had to remain open until late at night (sometimes almost midnight) to accept prisoners because of late arrivals from the courts. This is due to GeoAmey (which has the contract for prisoner transport) delivering to other establishments first and prisoners for HMP Leeds being delivered last. This means that some prisoners will not see a doctor until the following day. This is not ideal where a prisoner requires specific medication, such as insulin for diabetes, for example. 4.1.3 Inevitably, not all staff [...]
5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food 5.1.1 As noted above, HMP Leeds was designed and built in the 1840s for 641 men women and children in single occupancy cells. It has been extended and adapted over many years, although sometimes in a piecemeal way. Most prisoners now share cells that have little access to fresh air. Windows can only be opened to a limited extent and cells can be stiflingly hot in summer and very cold in winter. In some areas, windows are ill fitting, creating drafts. Although toilets and washbasins are partitioned from the rest of the cell, there is very little privacy for the prisoners. It remains a concern for the IMB that lavatory facilities are in such close proximity to where prisoners have to eat their food, whether or not cells are shared. Such problems are exacerbated where there have been reports of blocked toilets, as has occurred particularly in the CSU. 5.1.2 There are enough showers for all prisoners to shower daily, although the time allowed for this is short. This is due to the pressure of numbers, as well as allowing time for prisoners to make personal phone calls, complete application forms (to request arrangements for social visits) and other domestic period activities. The IMB’s observation is that wing cleaners ensure showers are kept reasonably clean. 5.1.3 Laundries on each wing have workers responsible for managing the washing of personal clothing. Bedding and towels are sent via stores to HMP Wealstun for laundering. There were [...]
1.1
HMP Leeds remains an overcrowded inner city Victorian reception
prison holding just under 1110 adult prisoners. When we last inspected
in 2022, we found a prison that needed to be safer and to provide more
meaningful activity for prisoners. In particular, we were concerned
about the high number of prisoners who had taken their own lives.
1.2
Since the inspection, a new governor had been appointed and some
other leadership changes had been made which had slowed progress
in a number of key areas.
1.3
At our previous inspections of HMP Leeds in 2019 and 2022, we made
the following judgements about outcomes for prisoners.
Figure 1: HMP Leeds healthy prison outcomes in 2019 and 2022
Good
Reasonably
good
Not sufficiently
good
Poor
HMP Leeds is reception and resettlement prison located near to the city centre
and holding just under 1100 adult men. Facing many of the operational
challenges that are consistent with its ‘front-line’ responsibilities, the prison
receives into custody about 388 new prisoners every month and releases back
into the community approximately 172. The population comprises a mixture of
remand and sentenced prisoners, the latter of which reflected the full range of
sentences up to and including indeterminate sentenced men.
The old Victorian prison has a forbidding reputation and on first impression
conforms to this characterful history. But this is not actually representative;
despite the prison’s age, on this visit we were impressed by the excellent
environmental standards, cleanliness, and positive feel of both the external
grounds and the built environment, all of which were indicative of energy,
confidence, and potential. It is important that this potential and the optimism it
encourages is reflected in the prisoner experience by, for example, making
improvements to the day-to-day regime, more time out of cell, and a greater and
more consistent delivery of purposeful activity. As our report demonstrates,
these are key priorities for this prison.
When we last inspected Leeds in 2019, we found a prison that needed to be
safer and to provide a fuller regime, but one which was reasonably respectful
and was ensuring reasonable rehabilitation and resettlement outcomes. At this
inspection our assessments as reflected in our healthy prison tests remained
the same, not an insignificant achievement in the context of the pressures
experienced by prisons emerging from the recent pandemic.
Our findings confirmed to us that Leeds is a well-led prison and that leaders and
managers were visible about the wings and had a realistic understanding about
the challenges and opportunities, and that priorities were communicated
successfully to staff and prisoners. Leaders were also creative in terms of their
preparedness to support new initiatives, including support for staff well-being
and retention. Staffing levels were reasonable and better than we see in many
other prisons and this was reflected in our observation of some quite caring and
supportive staff-prisoner relationships.
A key challenge the prison faced was ensuring sustainable improvement in
Leonora Cohen1873–1978 · suffragette