United Kingdom · South-East & East · Essex
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
For families
Step-by-step guidance using the United Kingdom system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.
UK YOI prison operated by HM Prison & Probation Service. Listed in the GOV.UK Find a prison directory.
Capacity
—
Current population
—
Occupancy
—
Year opened
—
Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 6 Jul 2026 · methodology
Operator
HM Prison & Probation ServicePopulation held
male
Opened
—
Region
South-East & East
Security level
—
Death-row facility
No
of near collapse: morale among staff was low, the prison was violent and rife with drugs and most prisoners were locked in their cells for more than 22 hours effective and determined leadership. I am pleased to report that, despite the mental health difficulties, who were often addicted to drugs or alcohol and frequently homeless. Staff had worked hard to reduce the amount of contraband gathering, which had also led to a reduction in the level of violence and an increase in stability. With a positive rate of 15% in random tests, drug use was jail. — UK IMB Annual Report (2024) — Safety: 4.1 Reception and induction The Board noted that officers in reception generally had a positive attitude to their job and we received little feedback from prisoners regarding safety concerns. Although the incident described below was certainly not typical of working practices in reception, it is worth noting, as it shows how problems can arise through thoughtlessness or lack of care. On a weekday [...] Respect: 5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food Overcrowding is always the most significant issue within HMP Chelmsford and we, again, report that nothing has changed in the last 12-months. A significant-and constantly changing-number of prisoners shared cells designed for one. Accommodation in E, F and G wings remained reasonable, but the old Victorian wings-A, B, C and D-continued to be a cause for concern. [...] Purposeful activity: In May 2025, the library manager was frustrated that staff shortages meant fewer prisoners were able to visit the library. She would usually expect 50-60 prisoners per day, but sometimes only 10 or 20 visited. An outreach service is offered, but she would prefer the prisoners to visit the library to benefit from her well-presented service. Inexperienced prison officers caused problems, in the [...] Preparation for release: During the reporting year, external adjudications, conducted via video link in the presence of a judge, were frequently disrupted by administrative errors in paperwork and witness availability, resulting in unnecessary and frustrating adjournments. In one instance, a case was postponed because the prisoner had not received a copy of the restrictions order in advance, and the officer required to [...]
1990s. At the time of this visit, the prison held around 650 prisoners,
Format: Prisoner Name & Number, HMP Chelmsford, HMP/YOI Chelmsford 200 Springfield Road Chelmsford Essex CM2 6LQ See map Help us to improve this page. Give us your feedback in this 2-minute survey .. Use Send Money to a Prisoner (GOV.UK) for funds — cash not accepted.
mental health difficulties, who were often addicted to drugs or alcohol and frequently homeless. Staff had worked hard to reduce the amount of contraband Although staff had worked hard to support some of the most prolific self- Leaders had worked hard to improve staff morale and retention and this was but many were working on wings where they were supervised by those with Partnership working between prison and health care leaders – which was poor The governor had focused on improving the levels of purposeful activity at the jail; access to the library and gym were mostly good and it was very encouraging to see prisoners in free flow going to education, training and work. worked hard to create a curriculum that was suited to the transient population at The offender management team was working hard to support prisoners and an excellent manager had made very good recent progress with work to reduce had not been dealt with and we found some risky prisoners were being released (ECSL) scheme to release prisoners early was creating some difficulties with HMP Chelmsford is a category B local and resettlement prison for adult HMP Chelmsford is a category B local and resettlement prison for adult and
with drugs and most prisoners were locked in their cells for more than 22 hours mental health difficulties, who were often addicted to drugs or alcohol and gathering, which had also led to a reduction in the level of violence and an increase in stability. With a positive rate of 15% in random tests, drug use was Disappointingly, levels of self-harm had increased since our last inspection and This had been achieved without significant increases in drug use or violence for drugs. Although some of the teaching was not yet good enough, leaders had soon enough when dealing with incidents. Our survey showed that prisoners were much more critical of their treatment in the segregation unit than at our last
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
What the score is responding to:
This facility scores 23. The national average across 584 scored United Kingdom facilities is 4 — 19 points above national average.
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
In 2021 our inspection of HMP Chelmsford revealed a prison that was in a state of near collapse: morale among staff was low, the prison was violent and rife with drugs and most prisoners were locked in their cells for more than 22 hours a day. As a result of multiple failings at this Essex jail, I issued an Urgent Notification to the then Secretary of State. At our independent review of progress in 2022, we found that Chelmsford was improving under some effective and determined leadership. I am pleased to report that, despite the level of support to the jail having been reduced, the strong governor and his team had continued to make progress. Chelmsford remained a challenging jail, housing many vulnerable prisoners with mental health difficulties, who were often addicted to drugs or alcohol and frequently homeless. Staff had worked hard to reduce the amount of contraband getting into the prison through improved security systems and better intelligence gathering, which had also led to a reduction in the level of violence and an increase in stability. With a positive rate of 15% in random tests, drug use was lower than in many similar jails. Disappointingly, levels of self-harm had increased since our last inspection and we found weaknesses in the way prisoners were supported in their early days in jail. Poor coordination between the reception and the induction wing meant that critical information about prisoners was often not being passed on in good time. Although staff had worked hard to support some of the most prolific self- harmers, there was not enough in place for those with less severe need. Coordination between the two providers of therapeutic support was poor and there was a long waiting list caused by staff shortages. Leaders had worked hard to improve staff morale and retention and this was reflected in lower levels of sickness absence. There had also been some good support and training put in place for the large number of inexperienced officers, but many were working on wings where they were supervised by those with only a few years of experience themselves. Partnership working between prison and health care leaders – which was poor at our last inspection – had improved considerably, but we found that medicine queues were still not being supervised adequately, despite this being criticised in inspection reports over the last 10 years. The governor had focused on improving the levels of purposeful activity at the jail; access to the library and gym were mostly good and it was very encouraging to see prisoners in free flow going to education, training and work. This had been achieved without significant increases in drug use or violence and demonstrates that higher levels of activity can help to reduce the demand for drugs. Although some of the teaching was not yet good enough, leaders had worked hard to create a curriculum that was suited to the transient population at Chelmsford. Prisoners on remand now made up 70% of the population, up from 60% at our last inspection. The churn of prisoners had increased significantly, and population pressures across the prison system meant that there were now fewer longer-term prisoners in the jail. Use of force was very high, and staff were not turning on their body cameras soon enough when dealing with incidents. Our survey showed that prisoners were much more critical of their treatment in the segregation unit than at our last inspection and in similar jails. The offender management team was working hard to support prisoners and an excellent manager had made very good recent progress with work to reduce reoffending. The public protection concerns that we raised in our last inspection had not been dealt with and we found some risky prisoners were being released without adequate preparation. The new end of custody supervised license (ECSL) scheme to release prisoners early was creating some difficulties with
4.1 Reception and induction The Board noted that officers in reception generally had a positive attitude to their job and we received little feedback from prisoners regarding safety concerns. Although the incident described below was certainly not typical of working practices in reception, it is worth noting, as it shows how problems can arise through thoughtlessness or lack of care. On a weekday in January 2025, IMB members visited reception at around 2pm and saw five prisoners in a holding cell. The prisoners complained about their treatment, as they had not had anything to eat since breakfast. The Board learned that a late-running bus (operated by Serco, the private company contracted to provide prisoner transport) - which was being used to transfer them out of HMP Chelmsford-was carrying their lunches as is the usual process. Reception officers confirmed the prisoners had not been fed. The Board was later able to confirm with the kitchen manager that he would have been able to provide food if reception officers had made a request on behalf of the five hungry prisoners. The Board was aware that, due to challenges of scheduling, some vulnerable prisoners (VPs) occasionally had to wait a couple of weeks for their prison induction. This resulted in those prisoners complaining that they were unable to attend education or other meaningful activity. We also received complaints from some prisoners about not being allowed to go to education or other meaningful activity. For many [...]
In May 2025, the library manager was frustrated that staff shortages meant fewer prisoners were able to visit the library. She would usually expect 50-60 prisoners per day, but sometimes only 10 or 20 visited. An outreach service is offered, but she would prefer the prisoners to visit the library to benefit from her well-presented service. Inexperienced prison officers caused problems, in the Board’s view. In one case, an officer left a challenging prisoner alone in the library with the manager, who felt unsafe. The Board was impressed by some initiatives, which were of great benefit to the prisoners. These included: Storybook Dads, where prisoners pre-record stories for their children. Raising Readers, where prisoners and their children select a title and a copy is given to both, enabling them to share the same story. Rhyme Time: a nursery rhyme session for fathers with young children. July 2025 was the prison’s reading celebration month, with activities and events around reading for both staff and prisoners, with prominent notices on walls around the prison. Also, there has been a children’s art competition, where drawings were submitted from children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews, using different media, and linked to a poem or book. ‘Reducing reoffending’ was an initiative introduced in August 2025 for a month. On arriving in the establishment, prisoners were offered a book to read to help ease the transition into prison life. The education provider at HMP [...]
During the reporting year, external adjudications, conducted via video link in the presence of a judge, were frequently disrupted by administrative errors in paperwork and witness availability, resulting in unnecessary and frustrating adjournments. In one instance, a case was postponed because the prisoner had not received a copy of the restrictions order in advance, and the officer required to attend the hearing was unavailable. Additionally, poor sound quality on the laptop made it almost impossible for the prisoner to hear the judge; this issue was subsequently resolved by repairing the IT port and purchasing a new speaker, a step which, in the Board’s view, should have been taken much earlier. On 10 April 2025, HMP Chelmsford hosted Abdul Bangura as a guest speaker in the library. Abdul shared his story, describing how he rebuilt his life after serving five-and-a- half years in prison, initially by founding a meal preparation service before finding his niche in running an aviation services company. Abdul’s visit, entitled, ‘From the wing to wings’, was well attended. He spoke about the importance of self-belief, second chances, and building a positive future. A member of the IMB met Abdul during his visit and was impressed by his authenticity and dedication. The Board noted the positive impact Abdul’s story had on prisoners. The Board enjoyed a very good working relationship with offender management unit (OMU) across a broad range of subjects. The Board has been [...]
5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food Overcrowding is always the most significant issue within HMP Chelmsford and we, again, report that nothing has changed in the last 12-months. A significant-and constantly changing-number of prisoners shared cells designed for one. Accommodation in E, F and G wings remained reasonable, but the old Victorian wings-A, B, C and D-continued to be a cause for concern. In February 2025, staff on D wing, which houses 63 prisoners, gradually began moving out prisoners in preparation for much-needed fire safety improvements throughout the prison. Over 10 weeks, the prisoners were gradually decanted to other wings. This process was well handled by the CM in charge and went off with only a few issues. The fire safety work was due to begin on 7 April 2025 but was delayed. Then management was instructed to re-open D wing for a minimum of eight weeks, due to continuing population pressures across the whole prison estate. Again, this was achieved with minimum disruption. D wing was again closed in July 2025 so that work could finally begin. The roll-out of the Launchpad platform (which provides secure laptops in prisoners' cells, enabling access to a range of digital services and content) made a real difference to the lives of many prisoners. Every prisoner we spoke to said the system made a positive impact on their lives. One said he liked the ability to sort out issues for himself. Another said he enjoyed not having to be reliant on officers. The Board [...]
1.1 HMP Chelmsford is a category B local and resettlement prison for adult and young adult men. It has a mix of older wings dating back to the Victorian era and more modern accommodation added from the late 1990s. At the time of this visit, the prison held around 650 prisoners, most of whom were remanded by the courts or awaiting sentencing. The population had been temporarily reduced by 50 to enable much needed refurbishment of some of the accommodation, but the prison remained unacceptably overcrowded, with about half the prisoners sharing cells designed for one. 1.2 At our previous inspections of HMP Chelmsford in 2018 and 2021 we made the following judgements about outcomes for prisoners. Figure 1: HMP Chelmsford healthy prison outcomes in 2018 and 2021 Good Reasonably good Not sufficiently good Poor
HMP Chelmsford is a category B local and resettlement prison for adult and young adult men. At the time of this inspection 712 prisoners were held in a sprawling institution, comprising older wings from the Victorian era and more modern facilities added from the late 1990s. Following this inspection, I wrote to the Secretary of State on 26 August 2021 invoking the Urgent Notification (UN) protocol (see Appendix IV: Further resources). I set out in detail my concerns about the prison and the judgements that had caused our course of action. Under the protocol, the Secretary of State commits to respond publicly to the UN within 28 days, explaining how outcomes for those detained will be improved. The Secretary of State’s response, for which I am grateful, is also detailed in the further resources for this report (see Appendix IV). We had last inspected Chelmsford prison in June 2018 and reported our serious concerns about the conditions we found. At that time, we assessed outcomes in
How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
World Prisons. (2026). HMP Chelmsford. Retrieved July 21, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-chelmsford
"HMP Chelmsford." World Prisons. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-chelmsford.
@misc{worldprisons-hmp-chelmsford,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {HMP Chelmsford},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-chelmsford},
urldate = {2026-07-21}
}