Last inspectedDecember 2025Full inspection, unannounced
Source: HM Inspectorate of Prisons report published 23 March 2026; visiting details from GOV.UK · last checked 29 October 2026
Latest inspection
At its last full inspection (December 2025; report published March 2026), inspectors found outcomes for prisoners were not sufficiently good for purposeful activity and preparation for release; reasonably good for safety and respect. It held 526 people at the time, against an operational capacity of 583.
Healthy prison tests: inspectors grade four areas from 1 (poor) to 4 (good).
Inspection history
Safety: reasonably good · Respect: reasonably good · Purposeful activity: not sufficiently good · Preparation for release: not sufficiently good Read our story
Safety: not sufficiently good · Respect: reasonably good · Purposeful activity: poor · Rehabilitation and release planning: not sufficiently good Read our story
Safety: reasonably good · Respect: not sufficiently good · Purposeful activity: not sufficiently good · Rehabilitation and release planning: poor Read our story
A man serving a sentence for drug offences touched a woman worker's inner thigh inside HMP Maidstone in April 2024. Magistrates imposed a community order and sex offender notification requirements.
Inspectors found the prison for foreign national men reasonably safe and respectful, but late Home Office decisions, drugs and ageing buildings held back progress.
An inspection report on HMP Maidstone, published in January 2023, found poor use of interpreters, weak education and slipping safety, though a new governor had begun to improve the regime.
An inspection report on HMP Maidstone, published in February 2019, found a calm prison with good staff relationships, but rising positive drug tests, poor first-night checks and menial work.
Prison News staff
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