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HM Prison Ranby is a Category C men's prison, located in the village of Ranby in Nottinghamshire, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It holds about 1000 male prisoners.
Safety: 4.1 Reception and induction From the Board’s observations, the arrival of prisoners at reception was carried out efficiently and with care during the reporting year. All the relevant checks and processes were in place to enable prisoners to be passed through the system quickly and efficiently. All prisoners arriving at Ranby go through an induction process. Some issues are still arising with [...]
Respect: 5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food As reported in our last report, furniture and fittings in some of the house blocks are looking run-down and in need of refurbishment but are fit for purpose. Little appears to have been done to address this situation, mainly due to financial constraints. From the Board’s observations, the wing cleaners do a good job of keeping their designated areas clean and [...]
Purposeful activity: All prisoners attend an induction, which is undertaken in the education unit within the first two weeks of arriving at HMP Ranby. The inductions are carried out over two sessions. The first session is to complete any relevant screening of maths, English, learning difficulties or disabilities (LDD) and reading. The second is for them to learn about the offer of education and work in the prison and [...]
Preparation for release: The offender management unit (OMU) always seems to be under pressure and are extremely busy, caused in part due to a change in the recall policy. As always there is a constant churn of prisoners, many on short term sentences. The Board are informed that the OMU receives a comparatively small number of complaints from prisoners and we are assured that they are dealt with in a timely manner. During [...]
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4.1 Reception and induction From the Board’s observations, the arrival of prisoners at reception was carried out efficiently and with care during the reporting year. All the relevant checks and processes were in place to enable prisoners to be passed through the system quickly and efficiently. All prisoners arriving at Ranby go through an induction process. Some issues are still arising with property being lost between prison transfers, as well as during cell clearances once in the prison. 4.2 Suicide and self-harm, deaths in custody There were five deaths in custody during the reporting year. Incidents of self-harm from 1 April 2025 to February 2026 were as follows: Apr 24 May June 25 July 25 Aug 25 Sept 25 Oct 25 Nov 25 Dec 25 Jan 26 Feb 26 Total 25 48 47 47 57 72 47 44 55 26 40 39 522 Assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) plans (used to support prisoners at risk of self-harm and suicide) opened from 1 April 2025 to February 2026, as follows: Apr May June 25 July 25 Aug 25 Sept Oct 25 Nov 25 Dec 25 Jan 26 Feb 26 Total 25 25 25 30 20 20 34 23 21 17 19 13 21 15 233 Board members routinely check ACCT documents when visiting house blocks or in the CSU. 4.3 Violence and violence reduction, self-isolation The Board reports that, despite the best efforts of managers and staff, illicit drugs in the prison have undermined safety and efforts to reduce reoffending. Prisoners are increasingly seeking ways to be sent to CSU (care and separation unit) to escape conflict, debt [...]
5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food As reported in our last report, furniture and fittings in some of the house blocks are looking run-down and in need of refurbishment but are fit for purpose. Little appears to have been done to address this situation, mainly due to financial constraints. From the Board’s observations, the wing cleaners do a good job of keeping their designated areas clean and tidy. The exterior areas around the larger house blocks are often strewn with debris and rubbish, which prisoners throw out of their windows. This encourages rats and vermin to flourish and leaves the area looking very scruffy and untidy. As reported last year, bedbugs continue to be an ongoing problem. Cells are taken out of use to deal with the situation as it arises. It has become an even bigger problem this year, due to the acute shortage of cells which, in turn, affects the number of prisoners the establishment can take. Fire safety checks and drills are carried out regularly. This procedure is part of the staff induction courses. The Board rarely receives any complaints from prisoners about the food. 5.2 Segregation The segregation unit, or care and separation unit (CSU), has a total capacity for 15 prisoners, with one constant-watch cell. The Board continues to observe generally very good staff and prisoner relationships. It has been another challenging year for staff, due to prisoners being housed in the unit whilst awaiting transfer to mental health facilities. We believe this [...]
The offender management unit (OMU) always seems to be under pressure and are extremely busy, caused in part due to a change in the recall policy. As always there is a constant churn of prisoners, many on short term sentences. The Board are informed that the OMU receives a comparatively small number of complaints from prisoners and we are assured that they are dealt with in a timely manner. During the reporting year the Board have not received many informal complaints from prisoners or applications regarding the OMU department. The Board receives very few complaints or comments regarding family social visits. As a result of the decision to release prisoners early, due to lack of places in the prison estate, the resettlement department has been constantly busy and has worked very hard to facilitate the early release scheme. Little has changed since our last report regarding providing accommodation to prisoners leaving the prison. There are just not enough places for people who require them. The early release scheme has exacerbated this situation. Resettlement staff raise a referral form, which is a risk assessment, with all the prisoner’s history. Once again, it has been noted that prisoners tend to blame the resettlement team for not being able to provide accommodation for them in the areas they would prefer to live on release. The resettlement staff inform us that landlords can be much more selective when choosing tenants for their accommodation, as housing is very scarce. [...]
All prisoners attend an induction, which is undertaken in the education unit within the first two weeks of arriving at HMP Ranby. The inductions are carried out over two sessions. The first session is to complete any relevant screening of maths, English, learning difficulties or disabilities (LDD) and reading. The second is for them to learn about the offer of education and work in the prison and to complete a pathway and a personal learning plan (PLP) with the information, advice and guidance (IAG) service. During this session they go to the library for their library induction. Prisoners are taught in either classroom or workshop settings, or one-to-one in outreach. Support is offered to neurodivergent learners. The prison’s outreach team supports learners who are not comfortable in the classroom to help them transition. We are advised by prison management that a number of courses previously offered have had to be cut this year due to the support staff being massively cut. Staff have been very uncertain regarding their jobs, and a number of redundancies have taken place in this department which has impacted on the number of courses being offered. The following courses are provided by the education unit: • Functional skills, maths: Entry level 1 – Level 2 • Functional skills, English: Entry Level 2 • Essential digital skills: Entry 1 – Entry 3 • Business: Entry 2 – Level 2 • Painting and decorating: Level 1 – Level 3 • Plumbing: Level 1 – Level 2 • Multi-skills: Level 1 • [...]
