Last inspectedAugust 2025Full inspection, unannounced
Source: HM Inspectorate of Prisons report published 17 November 2025; visiting details from GOV.UK · last checked 29 October 2026
Latest inspection
At its last full inspection (August 2025; report published November 2025), inspectors found outcomes for prisoners were poor for purposeful activity; not sufficiently good for safety; reasonably good for respect and preparation for release. It held 328 people at the time, against an operational capacity of 332. An independent review of progress was published in September 2026.
Safety: not sufficiently good · Respect: reasonably good · Purposeful activity: poor · Preparation for release: reasonably good Read our story
Safety: reasonably good · Respect: reasonably good · Purposeful activity: not sufficiently good · Rehabilitation and release planning: reasonably good Read our story
A £20,000 studio where men at HMP Leicester record podcasts for fellow prisoners has drawn criticism from the shadow justice secretary and a defence from the Reform police commissioner who helped fund it.
Inspectors found good staff-prisoner relationships and strong resettlement work at the Victorian city-centre jail, but rated purposeful activity poor and safety not sufficiently good.
The inspectorate's report on the small Victorian reception prison, published in May 2023, found violence and use of force had fallen sharply, but purposeful activity was not good enough.
Prison News staff
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