HMP Ashfield rated good on safety but poor on education and work, inspectors found

Education and work at HMP Ashfield had declined so far that inspectors rated purposeful activity as poor, according to a report published in January 2024. The finding stood in sharp contrast to the rest of the inspection, which found a well-led prison with excellent relationships between staff and prisoners.

“The serious disappointment of this inspection was the quality of education provision,” wrote HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor. Ofsted, which inspects education in prisons, graded overall provision as inadequate. None of its recommendations from the previous inspection had been achieved.

Ashfield was a category C training prison run by Serco. At the time of the inspection it held 410 men, all sentenced for a sexual offence. Inspectors visited between 9 and 20 October 2023. The prison opened in 1999 and took on its role for men convicted of sexual offences after a re-role in 2013.

Good grades in three areas

Inspectors assess prisons against four healthy prison tests, rating each as good, reasonably good, not sufficiently good or poor. Ashfield scored good for safety, good for respect and good for preparation for release. It scored poor for purposeful activity, which covers education, work and time out of cell.

The report credited a recently appointed director with building a strong, positive staff culture after a period of leadership instability. The director was the third in less than a year. Many officers were young and inexperienced, and around a third had fewer than 12 months in service. New recruits told inspectors they felt well supported by more experienced colleagues. In the staff survey, 85% said leaders supported staff well-being very or quite well.

The programmes team and psychology department helped officers understand the prisoners and how their behaviour could mirror previous offences. Inspectors said this led to better collection of security information, which could help staff plan for individual prisoners and track progress.

Inspectors found nine examples of notable positive practice. They included a prisoner advice line run by orderlies, a health bar selling affordable items such as paracetamol, and a family contact initiative that the report called excellent.

The serious disappointment of this inspection was the quality of education provision.

Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons

Education and work fell short

Serco ran education in house, so the prison avoided the contract problems with education providers that inspectors see elsewhere. Yet provision was poor and needed urgent work. Senior prison and education staff had not overseen quality closely enough. The offer was limited, and there were nowhere near enough places on English and maths courses. Some men waited more than a year to start.

Most prisoners were in work or education, but mostly part time. Many spent long periods hanging around on the wings with too little to do. Prisoners in vocational training often had no chance to gain a qualification or record their employment skills. Progress on a reading strategy for men with very low or no reading skills had been very slow.

The regime also got in the way. There was no evening association, so gym sessions and other activities clashed with education and work. Inspectors heard that the prison could not bring back evening association because it could not change staff terms and conditions before a new contract, then set for October 2024.

Inspectors said the education offer felt disconnected from the excellent work happening elsewhere in the jail. Charlie Taylor wrote that the prison needed to reorient itself towards education, skills and work as an essential pillar of rehabilitation.

Living conditions and sentence progression

The wings were well maintained, and cells, showers and serveries were in good condition. The provider had carpeted landings and cells, which made the prison much quieter than most. The report criticised a contract requirement to remove the carpets at the end of the contract. Charlie Taylor wrote that the stipulation had “ludicrously ordained that carpets should be removed so that the prison is returned to its original state”. He warned that this would cause huge and unnecessary cost and disruption.

The offender management unit, which oversees each prisoner’s sentence plan, was excellent. Consistently good key work, in which staff meet individual prisoners regularly, kept men informed about their progression. Prisoners understood when they could begin treatment programmes or apply for category D, or open, conditions. Leaders now managed high-risk prisoners appropriately.

Inspectors raised a concern about the future of the probation team. All probation staff, including the senior probation officer, had heard that they would be replaced in the coming year. The report said this instability posed a risk to future delivery and wider public protection.

Concerns and what came next

Inspectors identified nine key concerns, four of them priorities. All four priorities related to education, skills and work. The others included slow action after consultation with prisoners, an out-of-date health needs assessment, too few optician sessions and gaps in diagnostic services for neurodivergent patients. Inspectors also found weak careers advice and poor coordination of resettlement planning in the final months before release, with no pre-release service.

At the previous inspection in 2019, inspectors made 24 recommendations, four of them about key concerns. This time they found three of those four achieved.

Inspectors have reported on HMP Ashfield again since, with a full inspection published in July 2026.