Source: HM Inspectorate of Prisons report published 20 October 2026; visiting details from GOV.UK · last checked 29 October 2026
Latest inspection
At its last full inspection (July 2026; report published October 2026), inspectors found outcomes for prisoners were not sufficiently good for respect and purposeful activity; reasonably good for safety and preparation for release. It held 661 people at the time, against an operational capacity of 660.
Healthy prison tests: inspectors grade four areas from 1 (poor) to 4 (good).
Inspection history
Safety: reasonably good · Respect: not sufficiently good · Purposeful activity: not sufficiently good · Preparation for release: reasonably good Read our story
Safety: not sufficiently good · Respect: not sufficiently good · Purposeful activity: not sufficiently good · Preparation for release: not sufficiently good Read our story
Safety: poor · Respect: not sufficiently good · Purposeful activity: poor · Rehabilitation and release planning: not sufficiently good Read our story
The Chief Inspector of Prisons formally told the Justice Secretary of urgent and significant concerns. The government must respond publicly within 28 days. Read our story
Five years after an Urgent Notification, inspectors found the Essex prison had cut violence, self-harm and drug use, though health care and time out of cell still fell short.
The Care Quality Commission found shortcomings in four of the five areas it assessed and served two warning notices on the provider, HCRG Care Services Ltd.
The government has accepted all 33 recommendations from Dame Lynne Owens’s report into the mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford in October 2025.
The inspectorate's report on the Essex prison, published in May 2024, found it safer and more productive than in 2021, though all four areas were still not sufficiently good.
Prison News staff
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