Last inspectedDecember 2025Full inspection, unannounced
Source: HM Inspectorate of Prisons report published 9 March 2026; visiting details from GOV.UK · last checked 29 October 2026
Latest inspection
At its last full inspection (December 2025; report published March 2026), inspectors found outcomes for prisoners were not sufficiently good for safety, purposeful activity and preparation for release; good for respect. It held 577 people at the time, against an operational capacity of 628.
Healthy prison tests: inspectors grade four areas from 1 (poor) to 4 (good).
Inspection history
Safety: not sufficiently good · Respect: good · Purposeful activity: not sufficiently good · Preparation for release: not sufficiently good Read our story
A 34-year-old former officer admitted acting as the link between a gang and prisoners. Five prisoners have also received jail terms, and another awaits sentence.
Inspectors found the south-east London prison for young men had made progress after scrapping postcode-led wing placements, but violence stayed very high and many men spent up to 22 hours a day in their cells.
The inspectorate's report on the south-east London prison for young men, published in December 2022, rated respect good but judged purposeful activity and release planning poor.
Prison News staff
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