Source: HM Inspectorate of Prisons report published 7 September 2026; visiting details from GOV.UK · last checked 29 October 2026
Latest inspection
At its last full inspection (June 2026; report published September 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 1,085 people at the time, against an operational capacity of 1,113.
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
Inspectors found encouraging progress at the south London category C prison, with more time out of cell and less violence, but warned about drones, poor living conditions and offender management.
The Independent Monitoring Boards say long-standing failures in prisons are getting worse, with drugs, decaying buildings and cuts to activity leaving people in unsafe conditions.
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.
Prison News staff
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