Last inspectedDecember 2024Full inspection, unannounced
Source: HM Inspectorate of Prisons report published 18 March 2025; visiting details from GOV.UK · last checked 29 October 2026
Latest inspection
At its last full inspection (December 2024; report published March 2025), inspectors found outcomes for women were not sufficiently good for safety and purposeful activity; reasonably good for respect; good for preparation for release. It held 398 women at the time, against an operational capacity of 454.
Healthy prison tests: inspectors grade four areas from 1 (poor) to 4 (good).
Inspection history
Safety: not sufficiently good · Respect: reasonably good · Purposeful activity: not sufficiently good · Preparation for release: good Read our story
Safety: reasonably good · Respect: reasonably good · Purposeful activity: reasonably good · Rehabilitation and release planning: reasonably good Read our story
The Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee found severe staff shortages at HMP Styal and HMP Eastwood Park, and said Styal must urgently meet fire safety rules.
A male officer at HMP Styal who met a woman at a hotel the day after she left the prison has received a suspended sentence for misconduct in a public office.
Inspectors found safety and activity had slipped at the Cheshire women's prison, with four self-inflicted deaths since 2021. Release planning improved to good, and new leaders brought a sense of optimism.
The inspectorate's report on HMP & YOI Styal, published in January 2022, rated the Cheshire women's prison reasonably good on all four tests but found violence up and many houses in poor condition.
Prison News staff
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