Inspectors found the category B reception prison had made good progress and now ran a much better regime, but violence, drugs and poor living conditions held it back.
Outcomes worsened in three of four areas at the expanded East Midlands training prison. Inspectors found capable leaders, but only two of 15 earlier concerns fully resolved and three self-inflicted deaths since 2023.
The Independent Monitoring Board at HMP Manchester describes a prison in need of serious investment, with high violence, vermin and a slow anti-drone window scheme.
Inspectors found the West Midlands jail, which holds many young adults, had the highest rate of violence and of PAVA spray use among adult male prisons.
Inspectors rated the category B prison poor in three of four areas, with violence, drugs and self-harm still high, and the Chief Inspector of Prisons invoked the urgent notification process for a second time.
The Chief Inspector of Prisons found that assaults had fallen at the high-security prison, but prisoners still felt unsafe and too many lived in unacceptable conditions.
Inspectors found less violence and self-harm at Norwich and raised two grades, but warned that cuts to education left many men bored and that too many left prison homeless.
Inspectors found leaders at the high security jail had begun to make progress, but drones, unreplaced windows, staff shortages and a very poor regime left the prison in a precarious state.
The Chief Inspector of Prisons said the Isle of Sheppey prison received the lowest scores of his five years in post. Drones brought in drugs, violence was among the highest in England and Wales, and many men spent most of the day locked up.
In March 2026, the Chief Inspector of Prisons issued a second Urgent Notification for HMP Woodhill, warning that the jail had worsened since 2023 despite substantial extra support.
