United Kingdom · Yorkshire and the Humber · Wakefield
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Holds adult women and young female adults. Mother-and-baby unit accommodates infants up to 18 months.
HMP New Hall is a closed-category prison for female adults, juveniles, and young offenders. The prison is located in the village of Flockton (near Wakefield) in West Yorkshire, England. New Hall is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
425
Current population
—
Occupancy
—
Year opened
1987
Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 6 Jul 2026 · methodology
Operator
HM Prison & Probation ServicePopulation held
female
Opened
1987
Region
Yorkshire and the Humber
Security level
Medium
Death-row facility
No
Hall has a fairly significant turnover of prisoners, although staff told us that deterioration in outcomes in rehabilitation and release planning and purposeful still reasonably good and only in the quality of the daily regime was there more able to motivate an engaged and caring staff group. This was true of all disorders. At the heart of the governor’s leadership approach was a the daily regime. Some aspects of security, such as excessive and — UK IMB Annual Report (2024) — Safety: 4.1 Reception and induction When the Board has observed the reception process, they found it to be professionally managed, efficient, and working well. Staff were thorough and clear when explaining the process to prisoners. The reception area was consistently clean and tidy with a calm atmosphere, providing a secure and welcoming environment for women arriving at the prison. All women that arrive [...] Respect: 5.1 Accommodation, clothing and food New Hall’s cellular living accommodation is varied and while the older built areas support smaller groups of prisoners (34 per unit), the more recently built larger wings offer a larger space and can cater for between 58 and 76 prisoners. Most prisoners are accommodated in single occupancy cells, with washbasins and a toilet. Modesty curtains assist in [...] Purposeful activity: The purpose of education in prison is to give individuals the skills they need to unlock their potential, gain employment and become assets to their communities. Prisoners must be engaged, supported and encouraged to improve their employability and life skills and build social capital to reduce the likelihood of re- offending. A head of education, skills and work post has a specialist role within [...] Preparation for release: The offender management unit (OMU) staff work closely with management and community rehabilitation agencies to help prisoners progress through their sentence, working towards being released and their rehabilitation back into the community. They also work with the Together Women’s team. This organisation, a commissioned rehabilitative service, provides specialised support for women with complex [...]
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Format: Prisoner Name & Number, HMP New Hall, Dial Wood, Flockton, WF4 4XX. Cash not accepted — use Send Money to a Prisoner (GOV.UK).
deterioration in outcomes in rehabilitation and release planning and purposeful overwhelmingly safe and respectful place, work to promote rehabilitation was still reasonably good and only in the quality of the daily regime was there more significant work to be done to return to previously high standards. and baby unit or the Rivendale unit, which worked with women with personality commitment to prioritising key work. This provided a structure that marshalled New Hall’s approach to key work was one of the better examples we have seen the daily regime. Some aspects of security, such as excessive and locked up during the working day and time out of cell generally was not good
HM Inspectorate of Prisons completed a full inspection of HMP/YOI New Hall in March 2023; the published report is available on the HMIP website.
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
What the score is responding to:
This facility scores 13. The national average across 584 scored United Kingdom facilities is 4 — 9 points above national average.
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
Higher risk than 0% of peer facilities in United Kingdom.
4.1 Reception and induction When the Board has observed the reception process, they found it to be professionally managed, efficient, and working well. Staff were thorough and clear when explaining the process to prisoners. The reception area was consistently clean and tidy with a calm atmosphere, providing a secure and welcoming environment for women arriving at the prison. All women that arrive at New Hall are processed through reception upon arrival. All new prisoners are seen by healthcare to ensure that any urgent medical needs, medications, or prescriptions can be addressed. Part of this process also includes testing a urine sample to establish if they have recently taken any illicit substances and what those substances may be, as well as taking a pregnancy test. All pregnancy tests taken are followed up with a second test after three weeks of arriving at New Hall. One of the key parts of the reception process is identifying any risks and vulnerabilities. Early days in custody is proven to be a vulnerable time for people coming into prison, so it is key that any risks or vulnerabilities are identified, and the appropriate support is put in place at the earliest opportunity. This is done through the initial reception interview, conducted by the reception officer. They ask questions to establish any risk related and individual needs information and whether they meet the criteria for enhanced early days support through the women’s estate psychology service. The interview [...]
The purpose of education in prison is to give individuals the skills they need to unlock their potential, gain employment and become assets to their communities. Prisoners must be engaged, supported and encouraged to improve their employability and life skills and build social capital to reduce the likelihood of re- offending. A head of education, skills and work post has a specialist role within the senior management team to drive a whole prison strategy around education to reduce re- offending. An education core curriculum is run on a predominantly part-time basis, offering either morning or afternoon, covering English, maths and digital skills, plus vocational courses to support work in the prison and on release. All prisoners are eligible for courses, most of which are up to six weeks in duration; however, some learners on short sentences may not have the opportunity to participate in relevant courses that best meet their needs. Courses have generally good availability, but some waiting lists do exist and are monitored weekly in the allocations board meeting, but prisoners have reported that there is a slow system for accessing work and education, especially those jobs or courses relating to their chosen pathway (2024 IMB prisoner survey). The employment hub provides a part 2 induction to the prison (part 1 is in education), works with prisoners to establish goals and creates a digital personal learning plan, which is reviewed at regular intervals and is used to inform [...]
5.1 Accommodation, clothing and food New Hall’s cellular living accommodation is varied and while the older built areas support smaller groups of prisoners (34 per unit), the more recently built larger wings offer a larger space and can cater for between 58 and 76 prisoners. Most prisoners are accommodated in single occupancy cells, with washbasins and a toilet. Modesty curtains assist in maintaining dignity. The built environment is used to manage prisoners who benefit from differing types of living area. Some prisoners benefit from living on a smaller unit in preference to a larger and more open unit, which could create an enhanced level of anxiety. Ongoing upgrades range from a complete refurbishment of floors, walls and equipment to the replacement of plumbing and drainage. Further progress has been made in this area over the last year and a generally decent environment is evident across the site. The Rivendell unit offers accommodation with in-cell showers, and a bath is available on Holly House, and Willow. The regime specifically identifies opportunities for all prisoners to access showers daily in normal operational circumstances. The 2024 IMB prisoner survey comments about the regime included a lack of time ‘out of cells’ to eat, shower and exercise, and resentment about early lockups. The temperature is still a problem on wings with old heating systems, which are either on or off. There are comments about being ‘frozen’ at times. There is a request for more [...]
The offender management unit (OMU) staff work closely with management and community rehabilitation agencies to help prisoners progress through their sentence, working towards being released and their rehabilitation back into the community. They also work with the Together Women’s team. This organisation, a commissioned rehabilitative service, provides specialised support for women with complex needs and offers general resettlement support through staff who work in prison and have bases in the community. They work with the women before discharge and, after release, continue to offer support in gaining employment, housing, etc. All prisoners are allocated a prison offender manager (POM) once their sentence is calculated, in either a responsible or supporting capacity. Prisoners with less than 10 months to serve are the responsibility of a community offender manager (COM). Prisoners with 10 months or more until their conditional release date are initially the responsibility of a POM. All prisoners will be supported by the pre-release team, which provides the link between the individual in prison, the COM and the commissioned rehabilitative service provider in the home area. The pre-release team assesses any immediate needs and supports pre-release planning activity throughout the sentence. A COM is allocated eight months prior to the conditional release date, with responsibility transitioning through a structured handover meeting involving the POM, the COM and the individual. [...]
New Hall prison and young offender institution, located near Wakefield in West Yorkshire, can hold up to 381 women, although there were just 314 at the time of this inspection. A prison with many purposes, it holds women of all ages and differing risks: some are on remand or unsentenced, but a small number are classed as restricted status and considered among the most dangerous. New Hall has a fairly significant turnover of prisoners, although staff told us that many women were well known to them, returning frequently and repeatedly. This was our first inspection since 2019, and while we observed some deterioration in outcomes in rehabilitation and release planning and purposeful activity, this was from a high bar set in in 2019. The prison remained an overwhelmingly safe and respectful place, work to promote rehabilitation was still reasonably good and only in the quality of the daily regime was there more significant work to be done to return to previously high standards. The prison was very well led by a governor who knew her prison well and was able to motivate an engaged and caring staff group. This was true of all elements of the prison, including various specialist facilities such as the mother and baby unit or the Rivendale unit, which worked with women with personality disorders. At the heart of the governor’s leadership approach was a commitment to prioritising key work. This provided a structure that marshalled and exploited the good relationships we saw and brought numerous benefits to the prison, and more importantly the women held there. It was no surprise that New Hall’s approach to key work was one of the better examples we have seen in the prison system. Our two principal criticisms of the prison were about the security and quality of the daily regime. Some aspects of security, such as excessive and cumbersome roll checks which impeded access to activity, seemed to be excessive and disproportionate to the identified risks. Good security is vital, but it should be managed in a way that allows women to access the services that will help to reduce risks, commensurate with the broader public interest. That said, the activities on offer were too limited. We found about a third of women locked up during the working day and time out of cell generally was not good enough. At weekends it was even worse. Our colleagues in Ofsted judged the provision of learning and skills provision as ‘requires improvement’, their second lowest assessment. Other priorities included a need for greater focus on the promotion of equality, as well as improvements to the prison’s public protection arrangements. Nevertheless, this is a good report about a capable prison. The issues we raise are eminently fixable, and we hope the priorities we have highlighted will assist ongoing improvement. Charlie Taylor HM Chief Inspector of Prisons January 2023
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Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
World Prisons. (2026). HMP New Hall. Retrieved July 21, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-new-hall
"HMP New Hall." World Prisons. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-new-hall.
@misc{worldprisons-hmp-new-hall,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {HMP New Hall},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-new-hall},
urldate = {2026-07-21}
}