HMP Stocken had become safer and was close to its pre-pandemic levels of activity, but a failing education provider was holding men back, inspectors found.
The inspectorate’s report, published in May 2023, followed an inspection carried out between 16 and 27 January 2023. Stocken is a category C training prison for men in Rutland. It held 1,051 prisoners at the time.
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor praised the leadership team. He said that “the prison has the potential to become one of the best in the country” if the acting governor stayed in post and developed his team.
How the prison was graded
Inspectors assess every prison against four healthy prison tests. At Stocken they rated safety as good, the highest grade. They judged respect reasonably good and purposeful activity, which covers education, work and time out of cell, not sufficiently good. Rehabilitation and release planning was reasonably good.
Scores for safety and for rehabilitation and release planning had risen since the previous inspection in 2019. Inspectors identified 15 key concerns, five of them priorities that needed immediate attention from leaders.
They also recorded four examples of notable positive practice. One was a programme called STARS, designed to reduce stress, anxiety and depression. The report said it had led to excellent outcomes for vulnerable prisoners.
I am confident that should this impressive governor remain in place and develop his inexperienced but enthusiastic leadership team, the prison has the potential to become one of the best in the country.
Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
Less violence and more activity
The report praised impressive work to make the prison safer. Violence had fallen since 2019 and sat below the average for similar jails. Self-harm was also lower than in comparable prisons.
Leaders had cut the supply of drugs and mobile phones into the prison. Inspectors said this had helped to bring violence down. It stayed low even though the regime had opened up.
About 500 men moved around the prison unescorted to work, education or training. This system is known as free flow. Most prisoners were unlocked during the core day. Evening association, or social time out of cell, had returned for full-time workers and enhanced prisoners.
Mr Taylor wrote that “it was a refreshing change to visit a prison that was approaching its pre-pandemic activity levels”. He noted that the governor had made purposeful activity a priority despite severe staff shortages.
The prison had a shortage of officers ranking among the worst in the country. Staff gaps also affected operational support grades and teachers. Inspectors said recruitment and retention remained the biggest challenge.
Education, conditions and family contact
Inspectors said the education provider was badly letting the prison down. The provider was under a notice to improve, yet had won an extension to its contract. The curriculum did not suit the men at Stocken, and the prison lacked teachers.
Turnover among education staff had been extremely high. Mr Taylor described a succession of empty classrooms and long waiting lists for courses. Men could not study mathematics above entry level. There were also not enough full-time activity places for the population.
Living conditions had worsened since 2019. Many wings looked tatty and some were dirty, with dried food on kitchen walls and grimy staircases. The heating had failed on one unit and some windows were broken. Inspectors called for investment in the prison’s infrastructure.
Staff and prisoners generally got on reasonably well. However, inspectors saw too many officers sitting in offices instead of talking to men on the wings. Officers also delivered too few key work sessions, the regular one-to-one meetings meant to support each prisoner.
Many men came from far away, some from the south coast or Liverpool. The telephone system kept breaking down, including over Christmas. Weekend visits had waiting lists, so some men saw family only about once a month. Staff often cut visits back to an hour.
Early days and later reports
Care for new arrivals fell short. Anxious men waited for many hours with nothing to do and little contact with staff. Some received only part of their induction. Staff did not always share key information about risks, including health needs, with the induction wing.
Inspectors also found that too many mentally unwell patients waited too long for transfer to specialist hospitals under the Mental Health Act. The prison had no pharmacist to oversee the medicines service.
Mr Taylor set out three challenges for the year ahead: recruiting staff, improving the buildings and cleanliness, and making the education provider deliver a much better service.
Inspectors have reported on HMP Stocken again since, with a full inspection published in October 2026.
About this story
This story is based on HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ report on HMP Stocken, published on 16 May 2023, following an inspection that ended in January 2023. 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.
