United Kingdom · South-East & East · Kent
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UK YOI prison operated by HM Prison & Probation Service. Listed in the GOV.UK Find a prison directory.
Capacity
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Current population
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Occupancy
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Year opened
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Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 7 Jul 2026 · methodology
Operator
HM Prison & Probation ServicePopulation held
male
Opened
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Region
South-East & East
Security level
Medium
Death-row facility
No
the recent prison population crisis. The underlying problems that had the poor outcomes we observed again at this inspection compelled me to write than a third of the population engaged in purposeful activity and Ofsted graded most had nothing to do, and we observed wings that were chaotic and poorly supervised. In our survey, only 61% of prisoners said that staff treated them Leaders were not sufficiently visible around the prison, and poor communication for adult and young adult men in Kent, with a population of 670 at the we made the following judgements about outcomes for prisoners. Figure 1: HMP/YOI Rochester healthy prison outcomes in 2017 and 2021 Poor shows, a key strategic priority for the prison is the need to end overcrowding and radically improve the condition of the living accommodation in which blocks and some relatively new. — UK IMB Annual Report (2024) — Safety: 4.1 Reception and induction 4.1.1 The Board is satisfied that both functions are working well, with appropriate healthcare checks being undertaken. Ridley wing has been a dedicated entry wing, providing informative induction briefings and a good first-night process. However, this arrangement is changing given the change of prisoner cohort entering the prison. 4.2 Suicide and self-harm, deaths in [...] Respect: 5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food 5.1.1. The Urgent Notification action plan required improvement in standards of cleanliness, maintenance, and improvement in decency standards. The Board’s view is that while prison staff have worked towards achieving the improvements required, there is still some way to go in all three areas. 5.1.2. All the wings (except for Invicta wing) require constant [...] Purposeful activity: 7.1.1 Overview of education and skills training provision: In the Board’s last report we highlighted the lack of tutors and the turnover of staff was impacting on what could be delivered. The HMIP inspection and Ofsted in September gave adverse findings about the lack of purposeful activity, the lack of face-to-face places in education, skills and activities, the lack of guidance and support to [...] Preparation for release: 7.3.1 The HMIP report and the UN highlighted a requirement to improve identification and management of the risk for Public Protection, and to ensure it is appropriately identified, assessed and mitigated. The Board notes that dedicated resource at a senior level has been given to public protection work, and monthly risk management meeting and public protection meetings have resumed. The Board has [...]
time of this visit. It comprises one older set of buildings, being the
Format: Prisoner Name & Number, HMP Rochester, HMP/YOI Rochester 1 Fort Road Rochester Kent ME1 3QS 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.
HMP Rochester is a category C training and resettlement prison. In to the late 19th century, HMP Rochester in Kent is a training and resettlement activity and preparation for release – with many of the recommendations from training and resettlement prison. Our checks during the working day found less than a third of the population engaged in purposeful activity and Ofsted graded the overall effectiveness of education, skills and work as inadequate, their lowest assessment. Although prisoners were generally unlocked during the day, work further reduced the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships on the around the jail that prisoners chose not to go to work in case they missed meals HMP/YOI Rochester is a category C training and resettlement prison resettlement prison for adult men and young offenders in Kent.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons completed an IRP inspection of HMP Rochester in June 2025, a full inspection in August 2024, an IRP inspection in September 2022, and a full inspection in October 2021; reports are available on the HMIP website.
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
What the score is responding to:
This facility scores 33. The national average across 584 scored United Kingdom facilities is 4 — 29 points above national average.
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
1.1 HMP Rochester is a category C training and resettlement prison. In 2024 HMP Cookham Wood reopened as an adult institution under the
On the site of the UK’s first borstal, and with some accommodation dating back to the late 19th century, HMP Rochester in Kent is a training and resettlement prison for up to 766 adult men. The addition of the adjacent former young offender institution, Cookham Wood, which reopened during our inspection, added a further 180 places to this now joint site. Spread across a large area and comprising several different accommodation types, the prison was marked for closure only a few years ago but had remained open largely in response to the recent prison population crisis. The underlying problems that had condemned it to closure and replacement have not, however, gone away, and the poor outcomes we observed again at this inspection compelled me to write to the Secretary of State and invoke our Urgent Notification protocol. We have inspected Rochester on five occasions since 2013 and the prison has persistently underachieved. At this inspection, the jail attracted our lowest healthy prison assessments in three of our four tests – respect, purposeful activity and preparation for release – with many of the recommendations from our most recent 2021 inspection still to be addressed. We raised additional warnings following a disappointing independent review of progress in 2022, where we found mostly insufficient progress in addressing those recommendations. Rochester was fundamentally failing in its rehabilitative purpose as a category C training and resettlement prison. Our checks during the working day found less than a third of the population engaged in purposeful activity and Ofsted graded the overall effectiveness of education, skills and work as inadequate, their lowest assessment. Although prisoners were generally unlocked during the day, most had nothing to do, and we observed wings that were chaotic and poorly supervised. In our survey, only 61% of prisoners said that staff treated them with respect, significantly lower than in comparable prisons. The many relatively inexperienced officers we observed lacked confidence and were not sufficiently supported to enforce basic rules and standards. A failure to deliver enough key work further reduced the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships on the wings. Leaders were not sufficiently visible around the prison, and poor communication had led to inconsistent standards and inconsistent provision across the jail. Security controls on the movement of prisoners were not proportionate for the type of prison, imposing escorting arrangements to activities and appointments that caused considerable delays and frustration. It often took so long to move around the jail that prisoners chose not to go to work in case they missed meals or medical appointments.
7.1.1 Overview of education and skills training provision: In the Board’s last report we highlighted the lack of tutors and the turnover of staff was impacting on what could be delivered. The HMIP inspection and Ofsted in September gave adverse findings about the lack of purposeful activity, the lack of face-to-face places in education, skills and activities, the lack of guidance and support to enable prisoners to plan their learning, and inadequate resources to develop vital digital skills for support resettlement. Under the Urgent Notification the prison commenced a full review in all these areas to develop an effective strategy to improve and enhance opportunities for prisoner’s progression. The Board’s view remains that while there is a range of good training facilities at Rochester, it is primarily the lack of trainers and tutors which is holding up progress. Until this improves, progress will be difficult to achieve. 7.1.2 Unfortunately, due to the reasons set out at the beginning of this report, the Board is disappointed to report little progress on the ground has been achieved. The Quality Improvement Group meets monthly to review progress, and some key changes are coming from this. However, there are still vacancies for education staff and trainers, which in turn limits what can be delivered. On the plus side, induction for new arrivals has been redeveloped, but yet to come into place due to the changes to cohort. The ‘pathways’ scheme into education and skills has [...]
5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food 5.1.1. The Urgent Notification action plan required improvement in standards of cleanliness, maintenance, and improvement in decency standards. The Board’s view is that while prison staff have worked towards achieving the improvements required, there is still some way to go in all three areas. 5.1.2. All the wings (except for Invicta wing) require constant physical maintenance relating to plumbing, heating, ventilation, structural dilapidation, CCTV coverage and flooring. The Minister’s recent update letter notes the maintenance refurbishment repair work being undertaken on some wings, plus replacing boilers on A and D wings. However, in the main it is mainly painting walls etc and wholly insufficient. The Board’s view remains that all wing buildings have an infrastructure which is failing and meets a minimal standard of acceptable accommodation. It recommends again that HMP Rochester is considered for complete redevelopment, as was planned several years ago. 5.1.3 The A wing mould issue in several cells (referred to in last year’s report) continues to be of concern. It is caused by damp within the infrastructure of an old building – only remedied by pulling it down. After a thorough professional investigation, the best way to manage the mould is to paint over it as soon as it appears. Repair work on the roofs of A wing, the library and education highlighted in last year’s report has been undertaken. 5.1.4 There has been some progress to [...]
7.3.1 The HMIP report and the UN highlighted a requirement to improve identification and management of the risk for Public Protection, and to ensure it is appropriately identified, assessed and mitigated. The Board notes that dedicated resource at a senior level has been given to public protection work, and monthly risk management meeting and public protection meetings have resumed. The Board has observed that while good results have been achieved, there is still some way to go. 7.3.2 Aside from the UN, this has been a very challenging year for the Offender Management team, with an increased workload caused by the various early release schemes. Re-calculating sentences for Home Detention Curfew eligibility has been time consuming. Eligible prisoners, irrespective of whether they are classified as high, medium, or low risk, are being released without some of the pre-release preparation that would normally apply. The Board has concerns that while this does free up prison places, the individuals may not be able to meet the conditions associated with their release. 27 7.3.3 Too many prisoners still arrive at Rochester without an Offender Assessment System (OASys) assessment. The tracker system identifies those prisoners at a ten week point from their sentencing, by which time OASys and other information should be in place. The Rochester OMU team do their best to reach this target and keep the OASys backlog to a minimum. Release of Temporary Licence (ROTL) is not happening, and [...]
4.1 Reception and induction 4.1.1 The Board is satisfied that both functions are working well, with appropriate healthcare checks being undertaken. Ridley wing has been a dedicated entry wing, providing informative induction briefings and a good first-night process. However, this arrangement is changing given the change of prisoner cohort entering the prison. 4.2 Suicide and self-harm, deaths in custody 4.2.1 There was one death at the prison in the reporting period. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) have investigated and their report is awaited. There was a Coroner’s Inquest for a death at the prison in the previous year. In addition, there was PPO investigation into the death of a prisoner who was on home detention curfew (HDC) release. As far as the Board is aware, recommendations from the reports have been implemented. 4.2.2 It is good to report that the number of incidents of self-harm decreased during the reporting period. It reached a high point of 50 in October, but was down to 17 in March, with 2 individuals accounting for 29% of the March incidents. It has been noted that in March 60 new arrivals came with a self-harm history, compared with 35 in December 2024. During conversations with the safer custody team, the Board has noted a key trigger for self-harm is a feeling of hopelessness, along with more manipulative motivations such as requesting vapes and wing/cell moves. 4.2.3 Assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) reporting (used for prisoners [...]
1.1 HMP/YOI Rochester is a category C training and resettlement prison for adult and young adult men in Kent, with a population of 670 at the time of this visit. It comprises one older set of buildings, being the location of the original borstal, and a lower site with more modern buildings which were not designed for long-term use. Uncertainty has hung over the site since a planned closure was rescinded in 2017. 1.2 At our previous inspections of HMP/YOI Rochester in 2017 and 2021 we made the following judgements about outcomes for prisoners. Figure 1: HMP/YOI Rochester healthy prison outcomes in 2017 and 2021 Good Reasonably good Not sufficiently good Poor
HMP and YOI Rochester, the original borstal, is a category C training and resettlement prison for adult men and young offenders in Kent. When we last inspected in 2017, the prison was in a state of flux, with plans to close it just rescinded. At this inspection the situation had changed radically and, far from closure, there was now talk of potential plans to redevelop the site. Whether these plans come to fruition remains to be seen, although as our report shows, a key strategic priority for the prison is the need to end overcrowding and radically improve the condition of the living accommodation in which prisoners were held. The establishment comprises a mix of very old house blocks and some relatively new. All, however, were in a very poor condition. At the time of our inspection Rochester was holding 658 men; some way short of its capacity of just under 700. There was a significant turnover of prisoners each month, although 60% of the population were serving long or indeterminate sentences. About 40% were judged to present a serious risk of harm to others. Overall, and in the context of the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this was a reasonable inspection. As we found in 2017, outcomes in
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World Prisons. (2026). HMP Rochester. Retrieved July 21, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-rochester
"HMP Rochester." World Prisons. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-rochester.
@misc{worldprisons-hmp-rochester,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {HMP Rochester},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-rochester},
urldate = {2026-07-21}
}