HMP Onley

Reports

• HMIP6 Jan 2026

  1.1 HMP Onley is a category C training and resettlement prison near Rugby in Warwickshire. It holds over 700 prisoners. It has been part of the East Midlands prison group since 2017 but was previously a resettlement prison for Greater London. As a result, the prison holds many men from the London area, many of whom return there on release. 1.2 This review visit followed up on the concerns we raised at our last inspection of HMP Onley in 2025. What we found at our last inspection 1.3 At our previous inspections of HMP Onley in 2022 and 2025 we made the following judgements about outcomes for prisoners. Figure 1: HMP Onley healthy prison outcomes in 2022 and 2025 Note: rehabilitation and release planning became ‘preparation for release’ in October 2023. 1.4 At the last inspection, we found weaknesses in site security and the prison faced substantial challenges with drones bringing in drugs and other illicit items. Levels of violence had risen and there were high levels of drug misuse. 1.5 There were some good key work sessions. However, prisoners were frustrated that many inexperienced staff were often unable to help them with straightforward requests, resulting in the application and complaints system being overused. 1.6 There was not enough purposeful activity, with insufficient work and education places and slow allocation processes leaving many men unemployed. Many prisoners were demoralised by the inability to Report of an independent review of progress at HMP Onley progress in their sentence, with many men waiting months for sentence plans or unable to access the accredited programmes essential for parole or recategorisation. 1.7 Health care provision was weak and there were shortfalls in mental health care. Vulnerable prisoners were often left on long waiting lists for treatment. Scores in our safety and respect tests had fallen. What we found during this review visit 1.8 Eight months after our full inspection, this review of progress found some encouraging signs of improvement. Oversight of the use of force had improved significantly, and it was good to see that there had been a slight overall reduction in violent incidents. Leadership within the offender management unit (OMU) had improved, resulting in better contact for most prisoners and more effective sentence planning, although there was still some way to go for this to be consistent across the population. Ofsted judged that there had been reasonable progress across all four themes they reviewed, with better attendance and allocation processes in education and work than seen at the last inspection. 1.9 Despite these positive developments, several areas remained problematic. Illicit drug use continued to be a significant problem along with persistent drone incursions. Plans to enhance physical security were developing but, while funding had been agreed, little work had been done to date. Prisoners also reported ongoing frustration with staff who were unable to meet their needs. 1.10 Overall, while much work remained, the prison, under a dedicated governor, had a clear understanding of the issues and was investing in staff to address them. Charlie Taylor HM Chief Inspector of Prisons January 2026 Report of an independent review of progress at HMP Onley Section 2 Key findings 2.1 At this IRP visit, we followed up six concerns from our most recent inspection in May 2025 and Ofsted followed up four themes based on their latest inspection. 2.2 HMI Prisons judged that there was good progress in one concern, reasonable progress in one concern and insufficient progress in four concerns. Figure 2: Progress on HMI Prisons concerns from 2025 inspection (n=6). This bar chart excludes any concerns that were followed up as part of a theme within Ofsted’s concurrent prison monitoring visit. 2.3 Ofsted judged that there was reasonable progress in all four themes.

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• HMIP6 May 2025

  The relentless targeting of Onley by drones carrying drugs and other contraband was having a hugely destabilising effect on this Midlands category C prison at the time of this inspection. Random drug testing with a positive rate of 34% showed the extent of the challenge faced by leaders. In a rural location, with weaknesses in physical security, including windows that were easily breeched, the prison service had failed to defend this jail from serious organised crime gang activity. Unsurprisingly, levels of violence had increased significantly since our 2022 inspection; much was driven by the effects of a thriving illicit economy, with prisoners in debt subjected to assault or choosing to self-isolate. The experienced governor had, for the first time in many years, been able to recruit the full complement of officers, and leaders had worked hard to support staff welfare and improve retention. This meant, however, that many staff members lacked experience and had not developed sufficient capability in the role. As a result, there were many frustrated prisoners who could not get some of their basic needs met, particularly as the applications and complaints systems were not functioning properly. Inspectors also found some unnecessary pettiness that irked prisoners, such as the rule that they were only allowed two rolls of toilet paper a week. Conditions on the wings, particularly the older ones, were not good enough, with ingrained dirt on the stairs and corridors, and showers that were long overdue for replacement. As was the case at our 2022 inspection, there were not enough activity places for the population and allocations to work and education took too long, meaning that far too many men were unemployed and locked up during the working day. While over 100 prisoners had been given jobs on the wings such as cleaning, there was often not enough for them to do and they were underemployed. The workshops varied between impressive Greene King hospitality training and the drywalling course, to mundane tasks such as dismantling CD cases or stripping string off bobbins for recycling. Attendance at workshops and education had improved recently but was still not good enough. It was hard to walk anywhere in the prison without being stopped by prisoners complaining about the lack of opportunities for sentence progression. Many did not have a sentence plan, even after many months at the jail, while others could not access accredited programmes that would have supported their chances of getting parole or recategorisation to open conditions. Leaders will need to address the limited response of the offender management unit (OMU) if they are to tackle the sense of helpless felt by many men, particularly those serving long or indeterminate sentences, who were often overlooked in favour of those who were due for release. The drug problem was not helped by mismanagement of medicine queues, which meant that prescribed medicines were often diverted. Mental health provision was poor, with only the most unwell being treated and many men in need of help being assessed and then stuck on a waiting list with no hope of support unless their condition deteriorated. Those who had been assessed as at risk of suicide or self-harm were often given process-driven, transactional support, rather than the personal care that they needed. This was disappointing because keywork at Onley was much better than we usually see in similar prisons. Prisoners appreciated the regular sessions they got with a named member of staff and this was helping to maintain relationships despite the many day-to-day frustrations. On this inspection it was disappointing to see a fall in our scores for both ‘safety’ and ‘respect’ from reasonably good to not sufficiently good, reflecting increased violence and the high levels of prisoner frustration. If, however, the current

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• NPM-uk-imb-safety1 Jan 2024

  4.1 Reception and induction From the Board’s observations prisoners arriving at HMP Onley were treated with professionalism and care. All the relevant checks, processes and assessments were in place. Assessments that were unable to be completed on arrival, due to staffing levels, were followed up on the induction wing. There were some delays in inductions at the beginning of the reporting year; however, there was an improvement towards the end of the reporting year. The Board is aware that one third of transfers arrive on a Friday, which impacts the ability to hold inductions over a weekend. 4.2 Suicide and self-harm, deaths in custody The Board was very concerned regarding the significant increase in self-harm incidents. There were 393 reported incidents compared to 258 the previous year (see annex C). The Board observed that there were several individuals who frequently self-harmed. Three individuals accounted for 139 incidents, with one individual self-harming 75 times. The number of individuals self-harming fell from 141 to 124. On further investigation, it was identified that incidents of self-harm were significantly reduced on a Friday afternoon and over the weekends during open regime, with almost all the self-harm incidents occurring during lock up times and in the Board’s, view were mostly due to frustration, mental health issues, bullying and debt. The number of assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) documents increased from 245 the previous year to 265. [...]

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• NPM-uk-imb-preparation-for-release1 Jan 2024

  There was a shortfall of 2.3 full time equivalent (FTE) probation officers at the end of reporting year. The Board commends the OMU in managing the introduction of the government sentencing schemes despite being understaffed. Approximately 70% of prisoners did not have offender management and sentence planning in place, on the offender assessment system (OASys, is used to assess the risks and needs of prisoners), on arrival at HMP Onley. This led to consistent backlogs in OASys completion and sentence planning. The backlog at the end of February 2025 was 55. A remote agency worker was helping complete OASys assessments. The home detention curfew (HDC) caseload was approximately 70 by the end of February 2025. Prisoners, however, were being quickly transferred to a category D establishment (an open prison) within one week, following the introduction of the temporary resumptive re-categorisation scheme (TPRS). The OMU made slow progress towards implementing a more tailored and collaborative approach to addressing the needs of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) prisoners. They were supported by New Connections (an organisation supporting IPP prisoners). IPP prisoners were able to speak to their key worker or wing officers and raise any concerns via the prison council. The Thinking Skills Programme (TSP, which aims to reduce reoffending by addressing the way prisoners think, and their behaviour associated with offending) ran two groups consecutively during the reporting [...]

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• NPM-uk-imb-purposeful-activity1 Jan 2024

  There were 139 learners enrolled in education, on average, each month. Attendance against planned capacity was approximately 58%, ranging between 26% (April 2024) to 70% (October 2024). Between November 2024 and February 2025 average attendance was above 60%. The quality of teaching by tutors was identified to be good or excellent for 88% during lesson visits (teacher observations) by the in-house senior education managers. This was above the key performance indicator of 80%. 95% of learners rated the tutors (January 2025) to have good subject knowledge and would recommend their course to another prisoner. Learners spoke positively about their learning experiences to a Board member during a monitoring visit. Typically, they acknowledged the importance of improving their work ready skills. The tutors were observed to be supportive, constructive and encouraging and to have a good relationship with the learners. Peer mentors, as documented in lesson visits, were used effectively. They were being encouraged to keep a diary of their mentoring activities to enable them to evidence their role in the classroom or activity area. The number of learners enrolled on, and had completed and achieved, an accredited course was 91% (April 2024 to March 2025). Accredited courses included functional skills in English and maths and essential digital skills. Accredited in-cell outreach courses included peer mentoring, budgeting, personal development, self- employment and understanding stress and [...]

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• NPM-uk-imb-respect1 Jan 2024

  5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food The wings were monitored regularly by the Board. They were generally observed to be clean and tidy, but several wings reported they were short of trained wing cleaners. The older cells, as identified by the residential governors, were in a poor condition and lacked certain fixtures. Challenges existed in procuring replacement furniture. The condition of the cell windows remained problematic as they were a means of entry for rats and for illicit items via drones. Equipment on the wings was reviewed and funded within budget constraints on a rolling basis. An upgrade programme of pool and table tennis tables on the wings was a positive enhancement. New toasters and microwaves were purchased as incentives for Juliet and Kilo wings via drug strategy funding. These items of equipment were also purchased for another wing identified as consistently clean with lower violence. The condition of the linoleum flooring on Lima wing was identified as a significant health and safety concern. A new process was introduced on the wings during the reporting year for ordering basic personal hygiene and cleaning products and disposable gloves. An improvement was reported but shortages continue to be monitored closely by the Board. Laundry equipment issues were prevalent across the wings. Washing machines were frequently broken and out of order for months. The Board believes there are too few washing machines on the wings for the number of prisoners. We observed [...]

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• HMIP6 Jun 2022

  HMP Onley is a category C training and resettlement prison in rural Northamptonshire. The work of this jail was being constrained by the staffing situation which was one of the worst I have seen. The nearby convergence of two motorways meant that there were many local employers to compete with. The jail is also next to a private prison which was able to pay a substantially higher starting salary to new officers and operational support grades. It is not far from the recently opened Five Wells, which again pays more and to the south, prisons such as Aylesbury and Woodhill (both themselves struggling with staffing levels), are able to pay a market supplement. The prison was unable to deliver a proper category C regime. Out of a population of 732, less than half were working or attending education, and because the prison was operating a split regime even these prisoners were only spending half the day off the wing. Moreover, this restrictive regime wasn’t always being carried out; short staffing was leading to it being frequently curtailed, a situation that was worse during the weekends. The education provider had underperformed and had been unable to recruit enough staff, meaning that most of the workshops were empty. The extensive greenhouses in the market garden were falling apart and beds were overgrown with weeds. The quality of teaching was poor and the allocation system did not work – for example, prisoners at GCSE level were in the same maths class as those at entry level. Despite poor provision of purposeful activity, we were pleased to see significant improvement in safety. Led by the conscientious governor and his team, staff at Onley should be congratulated for the work they had put into reducing the supply of drugs and bearing down on the high levels of violence that we found at our last inspection when we awarded our lowest score for safety. Violent incidents against prisoners had reduced by 65% and by 24% against staff, and 38% of prisoners in our survey, against 55% last time, told us that they had felt unsafe sometime during their time at the prison. Similarly, there had been a 19% fall in the number of prisoners who said it was easy to get drugs in the jail. Levels of violence however, still remained higher than in similar prisons. The prison was also better maintained and much cleaner than at our last inspection with new showers fitted on many of the wings and most cells were in better condition. Sentence progression should be at the heart of a category C training prison, but the offender management unit was, in most cases, providing little more than piecemeal support and prisoners said they rarely heard from their prison offender managers. There was a good team delivering accredited programmes, but the range was not wide enough to cover the needs of many prisoners, affecting their progression. Leaders had worked hard to restart key work, and although it was still inconsistent, Onley had made more progress than other prisons we had recently inspected. The jail largely serves a London population, despite being a considerable distance from the capital, and although the prison had worked hard to restore

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