United Kingdom · North-East · Tees
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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 Local 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
North-East
Security level
—
Death-row facility
No
resettlement prison, in the last three years. In early 2020, we judged outcomes in one test, purposeful activity, did we repeat that judgment. Leaders engaged staff and prisoners through meaningful consultation, and by encouraging them driven by a real desire to improve the experience of prisoners and staff alike. The greatest improvements were in respectful treatment of prisoners by staff. — UK IMB Annual Report (2025) — Safety: 4.1 Reception and induction The re-role to a category B establishment has had a significant impact on the reception and induction activities within the prison. The Board has observed the staff teams at the ‘front line’ of receiving prisoners in reception are aware that this can be a very difficult time for many prisoners. The Board notes that the building changes made to accommodate the increased [...] Respect: 5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food Accommodation A significant accommodation development has been the establishment of houseblock 8, which has the capacity to hold 21 prisoners. There has been a focus on decency in the prison, which has resulted in some notable improvements in accommodation. All houseblocks, as well as healthcare and the segregation unit, are inspected monthly. Overall decency [...] Purposeful activity: Novus is contracted to deliver education services in the prison. Qualifications up to Level 2 in English and maths are available to prisoners. During 2025 attendance at education has fluctuated by a few percentage points around a 68% attendance rate, against a target of 68%. This figure measures the number of prisoners attending class against those scheduled to attend. The Board continues to [...] Preparation for release: Re-categorisation and changes in national and release and recall policy has placed pressure on offender management unit (OMU). In 2025 there were: 314 OASys reports completed (offender assessment system, used to assess the risks and needs of prisoners) (534 in 2024) 58 category D transfers (129 category D transfers in 2024) 34 home detention curfew (HDC) releases (202 in 2024) 530 immediate [...] Progression: Remand prisoners are not required to attend classes or work. The Board notes the efforts made by staff to encourage remand prisoners to engage in these activities. The Board also notes the continued efforts and focus throughout the year on ensuring a consistent approach in penalising prisoners (through the incentives scheme system typically) who should be attending classes or work and refuse to [...]
Visits booked online via the GOV.UK Prison Visits Booking service. Photo ID required. Visit frequency varies by the inmate's IEP level.
Format: Prisoner Name & Number, HMP Holme House, HMP Holme House Holme House Road Stockton on Tees TS18 2QU See map. Use Send Money to a Prisoner (GOV.UK) for funds — cash not accepted.
resettlement prison, in the last three years. In early 2020, we judged outcomes in one test, purposeful activity, did we repeat that judgment. Leaders engaged Behind the positive perceptions of most prisoners lay better key work than we incentives framework and use of adjudications and of segregation had around the prison for work and activities without undue delay. In all these areas standard of social care, strong mental health delivery, with good joint working also between health care workers and prison staff.
newly arrived. There were fewer violent incidents, and leaders had responded with new initiatives to a recent rise in violence among young adults. The incentives framework and use of adjudications and of segregation had Self-harm, however, had risen, and there was scope to make better use of data
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
What the score is responding to:
This facility scores 16. The national average across 584 scored United Kingdom facilities is 4 — 12 points above national average.
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
Remand prisoners are not required to attend classes or work. The Board notes the efforts made by staff to encourage remand prisoners to engage in these activities. The Board also notes the continued efforts and focus throughout the year on ensuring a consistent approach in penalising prisoners (through the incentives scheme system typically) who should be attending classes or work and refuse to do so.
Novus is contracted to deliver education services in the prison. Qualifications up to Level 2 in English and maths are available to prisoners. During 2025 attendance at education has fluctuated by a few percentage points around a 68% attendance rate, against a target of 68%. This figure measures the number of prisoners attending class against those scheduled to attend. The Board continues to remain concerned about the lack, in both the number and the level, of educational qualifications achieved. During the year there were almost 1,300 visits to the library. The vulnerable prisoner houseblock sent the most prisoners throughout the year. Throughout the year the library staff have had to continually focus on encouraging prisoners to attend. The Board has noted that on some occasions prisoner moves to the library have appeared to be low priority and that houseblock staff are sometimes otherwise engaged so do not prioritise facilitating prisoner to leave the houseblock to attend the library. The 2025 attendance at vocational training and work results are at 70% against a 68% target. However, this hides a steady decline during the period from April to September from 70+% until in late autumn it fell steeply to 50%, with a significant improvement back to the target in December. The result is affected because of refusals to attend, legal visits, social visits and healthcare appointments. Towards the end of 2025 significant work has been carried out to ensure prisoners are not [...]
4.1 Reception and induction The re-role to a category B establishment has had a significant impact on the reception and induction activities within the prison. The Board has observed the staff teams at the ‘front line’ of receiving prisoners in reception are aware that this can be a very difficult time for many prisoners. The Board notes that the building changes made to accommodate the increased number of prisoner movements through reception were delivered swiftly and made good use of the existing space. However, the physical facilities are stretched and congested when reception is very busy and different cohorts of prisoners need to be kept segregated. During 2025, reception received over 3,550 prisoners from the courts and police cells, in addition to over 700 transfers in from other establishments. The prison transferred out over 1,550 prisoners to other establishments. Just over 2,600 prisoners were released from the establishment during the year. The impact of the recategorisation of the prison can be starkly seen in the churn of prisoners (2,565 in 2024 compared to 8,371 in 2025). The Board is aware that there has been a very small number of situations where prisoners have been released in error (the Board notes that the reasons for these errors have been investigated and the factors leading up to the incidents arise from a variety of different functions across the whole justice system). During the year, the IMB observed the reception area to be well-run, and [...]
Re-categorisation and changes in national and release and recall policy has placed pressure on offender management unit (OMU). In 2025 there were: 314 OASys reports completed (offender assessment system, used to assess the risks and needs of prisoners) (534 in 2024) 58 category D transfers (129 category D transfers in 2024) 34 home detention curfew (HDC) releases (202 in 2024) 530 immediate releases from court 46 releases under the FTR48 scheme (a temporary government measure under which eligible individuals recalled to custody from sentences of under four years were subject to a 28-day fixed-term recall, rather than a standard recall, to ease prison capacity pressures) 1998 ‘standard’ releases 908 recalls The reduction in OASys reports is likely due to the recategorisation of the prison. The Board notes that any backlog of OASys reports is captured daily and there has been minimal backlog during the year. The number of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) prisoners at the end of 2025 was 33, a reduction from 50 at the end of 2024. Whilst the Board has received a high number of applications from this group, it has been reassured by the comments from the Governor regarding the arrangements in place for this group, particularly in light of the increased churn within Holme House. These arrangements include monitoring by OMU, structured reviews and clear lines of communication with residential staff. Representatives from the prison have also been attending regional strategic [...]
5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food Accommodation A significant accommodation development has been the establishment of houseblock 8, which has the capacity to hold 21 prisoners. There has been a focus on decency in the prison, which has resulted in some notable improvements in accommodation. All houseblocks, as well as healthcare and the segregation unit, are inspected monthly. Overall decency scores have improved during the year: CRED (clean, rehabilitative, enabling and decent) has recommenced in houseblock 1 to improve the standard of accommodation, but there are still some issues with privacy curtains and rails in a minority of cells. Cell flooring repairs have been completed in houseblocks 2 and 4 All prisoners have been issued with a cell toilet cover for decency Notice boards and murals have improved Showers in houseblock 1 have been upgraded to a high standard and others, where necessary, repaired A new washer dryer stack has been fitted in healthcare, after very long delays Houseblock 2 visits and exercise corridor flooring has been replaced There are advanced work requests for the following improvements to begin as soon as possible: Upgrade to showers in houseblock 2 and segregation unit Servery flooring in houseblock 1 and 3 Work has begun in the segregation yard to divide the yard-this will mean prisoners are able to have one hour exercise; CCTV will also be installed. Whilst the overall picture is one of notable improvement, the Board has observed that on [...]
The introduction of the standard determinate sentence (SDS40) increased the workload of the offender management unit (OMU), which had an impact on prisoners in terms of reduced contact time. However, against this, the initiatives developed in the recent past, such as key worker meetings and in-cell phone technology, continued to be of real benefit, although key worker sessions were significantly reduced. Although prison offender managers still do not see prisoners as often as they would have liked, the drop-in sessions continued. They were useful, as they gave them the chance to complete offender assessment system (OASys) reports and the opportunity to communicate with the individuals they managed. In 2024, there were: • 534 OASys reports completed; • 129 category D transfers. • 202 home detention curfew (HDC) releases; and • 94 temporary presumptive recategorisation scheme (TPRS) assessments, with 12 prisoners transferred to open conditions. The TPRS scheme was expanded to include those with 12 months left to serve (TPRS12) in November 2024, which is when these occurred. During the year, the Board noted the efforts made to support prisoners with an imprisoned for public protection (IPP) sentence. There were 50 IPP prisoners (including those recalled) in the prison as of December 2024. The prison delivered a number of programmes designed to help prisoners address the problems associated with the offences that had resulted in their conviction. Kaizen (an accredited programme [...]
Education Novus is contracted to deliver education services in the prison. Formal education for English and maths with City & Guilds courses is available to prisoners. These are aimed at practical knowledge, rather than formal academic qualifications. Novus’ contractual targets for course completion are 65% for English and 50% for maths, and these modest targets are achieved. However, the prison target of 80% for both is rarely, if ever, achieved, being more in the 70% range. The reasons for the difference include tutor absence, prisoner refusal to participate, preferring other work, and prisoners leaving the courses before completion or to attend other appointments. The prisoner release schemes during the year adversely affected performance, as many prisoners left without completing training and education plans. The Board remains concerned about the lack, in both the number and the level, of educational qualifications achieved. Library and the Shannon Trust The library has functioned throughout the year with the service provided by Stockton Borough Council. The Shannon Trust is staffed by its employees and volunteers. The library is available to all prisoners. In-patients and those in the segregation unit are supplied by delivery when required. All areas do participate, with more than 10,000 books being issued over the year. However, the Board continues to note that the library services report that they are underused. The Shannon Trust has operated throughout the year, [...]
5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food Accommodation The appearance and cleanliness of the accommodation continues to be generally good and many of the accommodation-related issues noted in the 2023 report have either been addressed or are in the process of being addressed. • The problem of plastic covers in the serveries has been resolved with the installation of new food heaters. • More of the showers in the house blocks have been refurbished, although this is still not completed. • The roof vents in house block 7 have undergone remedial work, which has rectified the original issues, although there are still periodic problems with heating. • Funding has been secured to refurbish the servery areas. • Issues centred on single cells being occupied by two people persist. • The flooring upgrade on house block 1 on A wing is now complete. Clothing • The provision of clothing and bedding seems, generally, to be good although some shortages were reported during the year. Food • In 2023, the Board reported that the quality of the food had deteriorated. It is encouraging to observe that efforts have been made during 2024 to address this issue and there have been improvements in several areas, particularly with the pies and cooked food. Tentatively, there is evidence from the re-established food forum and kiosk messages that prisoners are recognising these developments. During the latter part of 2024, a significant number of the equipment issues have been resolved, including those [...]
4.1 Reception and induction During 2024, the reception team received convicted prisoners transferred from other prisons, principally from HMP Durham. From January 2025, the prison will start to receive remand prisoners, and the arrangements within reception are altering to accommodate this change. During 2024 over 1,710 prisoners were transferred into the prison from other establishments. The IMB observed the reception area to be well run, and prisoners being treated with care at what can be a very anxious and confusing time for them. One of the red band (trusted) prisoners in reception during 2024 was also Samaritan-trained as a Listener. Arriving prisoners are given food and a drink whilst they wait to be processed. The transfer of prisoner property is an area that gave cause to a significant number of complaints. Observations in reception evidence that, on arrival, prisoner property is dealt with diligently. However, there continue to be times when not all of a prisoner’s property arrives with them. In such cases, it may take weeks before property is found and relocated from the sending establishment. Due to circumstances outside the control of HMP Holme House, prisoners sometimes arrived late in the afternoon (2-3pm) after being held in their previous prison ready for departure from early morning (this was prior to the re-role and additional resources being available). This late arrival time means that processes within reception must be actioned swiftly before the end of [...]
Much has changed at Holme House, a large category C training and resettlement prison, in the last three years. In early 2020, we judged outcomes to be insufficiently good across all four of our healthy prison tests. In 2023 only in one test, purposeful activity, did we repeat that judgment. Leaders engaged staff and prisoners through meaningful consultation, and by encouraging them to contribute creative ideas to solve problems. The governor had enlisted the support of his managers in pursuing a style that was visible, committed and driven by a real desire to improve the experience of prisoners and staff alike. The greatest improvements were in respectful treatment of prisoners by staff. Behind the positive perceptions of most prisoners lay better key work than we usually see, good use of prisoners in peer support roles, and especially a programme of wide-ranging consultation. It was now also a considerably safer prison. More support was given to those newly arrived. There were fewer violent incidents, and leaders had responded with new initiatives to a recent rise in violence among young adults. The incentives framework and use of adjudications and of segregation had improved. Security measures were proportionate, allowing prisoners to move around the prison for work and activities without undue delay. In all these areas we identify potential for further improvement, but the achievements were real. Self-harm, however, had risen, and there was scope to make better use of data to understand and address any persistent factors behind this rise. Too many prisoners lived in overcrowded conditions, some cells being very cramped indeed, although much flair and effort had gone into brightening the wider environment. There was widespread and justified dissatisfaction with food – the main topic of complaints made to inspectors. The generally positive climate of consultation and inclusion benefited minority groups, as our survey attested, but some minority groups received much more consistent support than others. Good health care delivery was strengthened by first-rate collaboration between a number of teams and organisations; this included an exceptionally high standard of social care, strong mental health delivery, with good joint working also between health care workers and prison staff. Prisoners appreciated a predictable regime, with more time unlocked on the wing than at many similar prisons; but there was still not enough time spent in constructive activity. The education curriculum lacked sufficient depth and breadth, attendance was too low and too few could gain qualifications. Leaders had made a start on promoting reading, and there was some good help to prepare for employment on release. Work to reduce reoffending had improved and was now well coordinated. Contact between prisoners and their offender managers had improved since 2020 but was still inconsistent, as was the quality of assessment of the prisoner’s risks and needs. The provision of accredited programmes to reduce the risk of reoffending was at a low level, although the specialist unit for people on the national offender personality disorder pathway was impressive. There was also an extensive range of non-accredited interventions. There were some staffing pressures, but we found that staff morale and staff retention were better than in many prisons. If the quality of leadership at Holme House can be maintained, working hard to foster a shared, participative and rehabilitative culture, the prospects for further improvement must be good. Charlie Taylor HM Chief Inspector of Prisons April 2023
Full inspection of HMP Holme House (2020-03-02)
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 Holme House. Retrieved July 22, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-holme-house
"HMP Holme House." World Prisons. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-holme-house.
@misc{worldprisons-hmp-holme-house,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {HMP Holme House},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-holme-house},
urldate = {2026-07-22}
}