Courts were regularly sending acutely mentally unwell women to HMP & YOI Low Newton as a place of safety, according to an inspection report published in September 2021.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) visited the women’s prison in County Durham between 2 and 18 June 2021. Inspectors found excellent relationships between staff and women, and rated the prison good for safety and for respect.
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said the use of the prison for women in profound distress was very concerning. “These women should be in hospital where they can be treated, not left in prison where they put an additional burden on already stretched resources,” he wrote.
Prison used in place of hospital
Courts sent these women to Low Newton because of a lack of suitable support and residential placements in the community. The Chief Inspector of Prisons said health care and prison staff did their best. However, they lacked the training, skills and resources to care for patients who were so unwell.
He described the problem as an unintended consequence of a well-meant policy. That policy aimed to stop seriously mentally ill women from languishing in police cells. Instead, it had passed the problem on to prisons, which were just as unsuitable. Women attending GP appointments in the health care department could hear one woman’s constant screaming.
Low Newton is a local and resettlement prison for women. It serves courts from the Scottish Borders to Cumbria and North Yorkshire. At the time of the inspection it held 229 women. Of these, 45 had no sentence yet, and the rest were serving sentences ranging from a few months to life. In the inspectors’ survey, 50% of women said they had a disability.
These women should be in hospital where they can be treated, not left in prison where they put an additional burden on already stretched resources.
Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
How inspectors graded the prison
Inspectors judge every prison against four healthy prison tests. At the time these covered safety, respect, purposeful activity and rehabilitation and release planning. Purposeful activity covers education, work and time out of cell.
Low Newton scored good, the highest grade, for safety and for respect. Safety had improved from reasonably good in 2018, and respect stayed good. The prison scored reasonably good for rehabilitation and release planning and not sufficiently good for purposeful activity.
The prison had achieved none of the three recommendations on key concerns from the 2018 inspection.
Strong care, but gaps in support
Inspectors highlighted many examples of notable positive practice. A comfortable suite allowed women who had been victims of crime to give evidence safely, without travelling to a police station. The prison had expanded video calling so that relatives living in different households could join the same call. Inspectors called the chaplaincy exceptional and family support excellent. Women hugely valued their in-cell phones.
Self-harm was lower than at most similar prisons, and women had good day-to-day support. However, there was no coherent strategy to reduce self-harm. The Chief Inspector of Prisons found it disappointing that the prison had let the Listener scheme wither, at a time when women needed peer support more than ever. Listeners are prisoners trained by the Samaritans to give confidential emotional support to others.
Fewer women than in 2018 said it was easy to get illegal drugs, but drug supply remained a significant risk. Assaults on staff had increased. Escort arrangements for bringing women to the prison remained very unsatisfactory. A project worker from the charity NEPACS gave excellent help to women in their first few days. The prison had no body scanner to detect drugs hidden inside the body. Instead, it had opened a new safety and support unit to monitor new arrivals. Inspectors found that the daily regime there amounted to segregation.
Women could buy new clothes from the prison shop or choose from a large second-hand range. Even so, a ban on parcels from home caused much frustration, especially because women did not understand the reasons for it.
Too long locked up, and what came next
Despite the good practice, the Chief Inspector of Prisons said “women continue to be locked in their cells for far too long”. He urged leaders to increase the time women spent unlocked significantly and without delay.
Education provision was very limited. Women who needed to improve basic skills, gain qualifications and learn skills for work were not getting the help they needed to live safe, crime-free lives.
The Chief Inspector of Prisons said the team had much to be proud of. Coherent plans with clear timescales and targets would help the prison build on its successes.
Inspectors have reported on the prison again since, with a full inspection published in February 2026.
About this story
This story is based on HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ report on HMP & YOI Low Newton, published on 7 September 2021, following an inspection that ended in June 2021. It covers an earlier inspection: the prison’s profile has the latest findings. All figures and judgements are the inspectorate’s. Read the full inspection report · See the prison’s profile in our directory.
