A report published in January 2024 praised strong leadership and staff-prisoner relationships at the Serco-run prison, but found education so weak that men waited more than a year for English and maths places.
Inspectors praised the Kent open prison's use of temporary release to get women into paid work, but found weaknesses in education and in the promotion of equality.
Inspectors said the Serco-run Staffordshire prison was failing in its role as a training prison, though they praised its therapeutic community, staff relationships and family support.
The inspectorate's report on HMP Swaleside, published in December 2023, rated the Kent prison not sufficiently good on all four tests. Seven men had taken their own lives since the previous inspection.
Inspectors rated the Cambridgeshire prison good for safety and called the visit very encouraging, but found weak health care, a maintenance backlog and too little work and education.
An inspection report published in November 2023 found HMP Woodhill unsafe, with the highest rate of serious assaults on staff in the country and none of its 2021 recommendations achieved.
A report published in November 2023 found HMYOI Werrington volatile, with safeguarding in disarray, 388 keep-apart instructions and most children out of their cells for four hours a day or less.
In November 2023 the Chief Inspector of Prisons used the Urgent Notification process at HMP Bedford, citing the highest rate of assaults on staff in any adult men's prison and a squalid segregation unit.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons' report on HMP High Down, published in November 2023, found a poorly planned switch to a training prison had left men with too little to do and drugs driving violence.
Inspectors rated the Oxfordshire prison for foreign national men good for safety and respect. Slow Home Office decisions, too few full-time activity places and poor education held it back.
