Last inspectedMay 2025Full inspection, unannounced
Source: HM Inspectorate of Prisons report published 4 August 2025; visiting details from GOV.UK · last checked 29 October 2026
Latest inspection
At its last full inspection (May 2025; report published August 2025), inspectors found outcomes for prisoners were poor for purposeful activity; not sufficiently good for safety, respect and preparation for release. It held 729 people at the time, against an operational capacity of 742. An independent review of progress was published in February 2026.
Safety: not sufficiently good · Respect: not sufficiently good · Purposeful activity: poor · Preparation for release: not sufficiently good Read our story
Safety: reasonably good · Respect: reasonably good · Purposeful activity: poor · Rehabilitation and release planning: not sufficiently good Read our story
A man already serving a 15-year sentence threw boiling water into an officer’s face and then hit him with the kettle, leaving him with burns to his face and eye.
Inspectors found drones carrying drugs into a Midlands training prison, rising violence and too few activity places, with a third of random drug tests coming back positive.
The inspectorate's report on HMP Onley, published in September 2022, described one of the worst staffing situations the Chief Inspector of Prisons had seen, and rated purposeful activity poor despite big gains in safety.
Prison News staff
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