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UK Open (Cat D) prison operated by HM Prison & Probation Service. Listed in the GOV.UK Find a prison directory.
Background
HM Prison Leyhill is a category D men's prison located in the parish of Cromhall in Gloucestershire, England. His Majesty's Prison Service operates Leyhill Prison.
outcomes in our healthy prison tests of safety and respect remained ‘good’, our planning. Only in purposeful activity did we find a concerning deterioration. In this test, our assessment had fallen from ‘good’ to ‘poor’, indicative of a revealed some negative prisoner perceptions about their personal safety, violence was rare. There was some evidence to suggest that greater staff confidence among the prisoner population.
— UK IMB Annual Report (2024) —
Safety: • The safer custody group, consisting of staff and prisoner representatives, has met quarterly in the past year and has been observed by the Board. Most participants have attended the meetings at the prison, while a few staff have used teleconference facilities. The view of the IMB is that the group has remained focused and aware of the impact of the regime on prisoners safety. Areas covered [...]
Respect: 5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food Accommodation is split over three units: Ash, Beech and Cedar. Each unit has its own kitchens and association rooms. Ash has been predominantly reserved for younger prisoners, whilst Beech tends to be prioritised for the older population and those with a physical disability. Cedar is occupied by a small number of prisoners on the enhanced level of the incentives [...]
Purposeful activity: Education, learning and skills This year has seen much progress against the targets set by Ofsted. The targets included: the ability to show evidence of intent and impact and reflection for the learners. There is a greater unity of purpose between education, learning and skills and work experience (WEX) departments, led by the coordinator of these areas and the heads of the teams involved. The [...]
Preparation for release: Leyhill is a resettlement prison, so prisoners are understandably focused on securing parole. This process can be time-consuming, particularly because risk assessment has to be much more rigorous in a prison that has a high proportion of high-risk prisoners. Between December 2023 and December 2024, offender management unit (OMU) resources were put under great pressure due to the introduction and [...]
Visiting
Visits booked online via the GOV.UK Prison Visits Booking service. Photo ID required. Visit frequency varies by the inmate's IEP level.
Mailing
a new governor took up post. Our assessment was that the prison had been
Practical info
highest assessment, and ‘reasonably good’ in rehabilitation and release planning. Only in purposeful activity did we find a concerning deterioration. In temporary release (ROTL) failures. redress were effective and some very useful work was taking place to support regime had significant shortcomings.
Known issues
violence was rare. There was some evidence to suggest that greater staff thought it was easy to access illegal drugs, although the mandatory drugs encouraging with, for example, very little self-harm and very few abscond or
Contact & address
HMP Leyhill Wotton-under-Edge Gloucester GL12 8BT See map Help us to improve this page. Give us your feedback in this 2-minute survey ., Gloucester GL12 8BT
Higher risk than 0% of peer facilities in United Kingdom.
Capacity (beds)this: 510 · peers avg: 574 (11%)
Reports
NPM-uk-imb-respect1 Jan 2024
5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food Accommodation is split over three units: Ash, Beech and Cedar. Each unit has its own kitchens and association rooms. Ash has been predominantly reserved for younger prisoners, whilst Beech tends to be prioritised for the older population and those with a physical disability. Cedar is occupied by a small number of prisoners on the enhanced level of the incentives scheme. There is no segregation of any sort for prisoners convicted of sexual offences. The maintenance of the toilets and showers is ongoing, with contractors regularly being called back to correct defects, including poor ventilation, leaks and damaged safety buttons, which are installed in the disabled showers to raise an alarm if a prisoner requires assistance. The cleanliness of the toilets and showers continues to vary, depending on the users, dedication of the prisoner cleaner on the wing or volunteers who take it on themselves to maintain standards. New ramps are now operational in Ash unit, providing wheelchair access to more rooms. There is also a new ramp on the main access path to the unit. Phone use privacy in Ash has improved, with new soundproofed booths. However, the limited number of phones in Ash and Beech continues to result in long queues whilst prisoners wait to use a phone at peak times. Prisoners stand outside the booths waiting for a phone to become available, which can be intimidating for the prisoner using the phone. The soundproofing is not perfect and [...]
Leyhill is a resettlement prison, so prisoners are understandably focused on securing parole. This process can be time-consuming, particularly because risk assessment has to be much more rigorous in a prison that has a high proportion of high-risk prisoners. Between December 2023 and December 2024, offender management unit (OMU) resources were put under great pressure due to the introduction and implementation of a number of new and developing initiatives. Examples of these are: • The Temporary Presumptive Recategorisation Scheme (TPRS) continued to operate although, by December, the numbers coming to Leyhill had significantly reduced, which relieved the pressure of finding additional accommodation. The numbers coming to Leyhill under this scheme continued to drop between January and June. In June, TPRS12 was introduced, which enabled eligible prisoners suitable for transfer to open conditions to be considered in the last 12 months of their sentence, which was increased from three months. • The home detention curfew (HDC) scheme allows prisoners to serve the remaining part of their sentence at home under strict conditions which includes electronic monitoring and a curfew. There is an expectation from prisoners coming to Leyhill from the closed estate that those eligible for HDC will be released under the scheme. Unfortunately, finding suitable accommodation for eligible prisoners resulted in some having their release either delayed or rejected. • In June, HDC4+ was [...]
• The safer custody group, consisting of staff and prisoner representatives, has met quarterly in the past year and has been observed by the Board. Most participants have attended the meetings at the prison, while a few staff have used teleconference facilities. The view of the IMB is that the group has remained focused and aware of the impact of the regime on prisoners safety. Areas covered include challenge, support and intervention plans (CSIPs; which are used to manage prisoners who pose an increased risk of violence), assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) documents (which are used to support prisoners who are at risk of self-harm and suicide), debt, relationship and social care. • The IMB has observed the safety intervention meetings (SIM), which have exemplified the care and humane treatment of prisoners who are, or may be, vulnerable, give cause for concern or who may need a watchful eye or other assistance. • During the reporting period, 142 prisoners were transferred back to closed conditions, 121 (85%) of which were for ‘security reasons’. The previous year saw 113 prisoners transferred back, with 94 (83%) being for ‘security reasons’. • There were 73 temporary release failures (TRFs) during the year, mostly concerning late returns or missing paperwork. There were three absconds during the year. 4.1 Reception and induction • Late arrivals at Leyhill continue to create challenges for prisoners, prison officers and the healthcare department. On occasion, [...]
Education, learning and skills This year has seen much progress against the targets set by Ofsted. The targets included: the ability to show evidence of intent and impact and reflection for the learners. There is a greater unity of purpose between education, learning and skills and work experience (WEX) departments, led by the coordinator of these areas and the heads of the teams involved. The quality improvement group (QIG) is responsible on a monthly basis for what is being achieved. There is now much more statistical data as evidence of their success in the areas they have pushed forward. The focus is on providing evidence of progression and behaviours and attitudes of the prisoners. In most working areas, all prisoners carry with them their progress in work (PIW) booklets, where the tutors recognise the skills and talents of the prisoners in their workplaces and record it. Last year, this only happened in DHL, but has gone wider this year and the current target is on the use of the booklets in kitchen work. A future challenge is for staff to recognise the literacy and numeracy skills being used in their areas. The ability to set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timely) targets is a training need. However, the prison officers’ association (POA) has rejected the use of these booklets by their members. It was hoped to publish the Prisoner Pathways booklet in October. However, this has been delayed due to budget constraints, although we understand that it [...]
Leyhill is a category D open prison in rural Gloucestershire which, at the time of
our inspection, was holding 437 adult male prisoners. Just under half of those
held were aged over 50, and many presented a high risk of harm, often coming
to the end of lengthy sentences. Over 40% were serving indeterminate
sentences and more than half had been convicted of a sexual offence, although
all lived communally. Comprising two main accommodation units, with the
recent addition of some modular accommodation, the prison campus was set in
well-cared-for grounds that undoubtedly contributed to the calm and settled feel
of the institution.
Overall, this was a positive inspection. Although it was our first since 2016,
outcomes in our healthy prison tests of safety and respect remained ‘good’, our
highest assessment, and ‘reasonably good’ in rehabilitation and release
planning. Only in purposeful activity did we find a concerning deterioration. In
this test, our assessment had fallen from ‘good’ to ‘poor’, indicative of a
significant missed opportunity, especially in the context of an open prison.
Prisoners were generally received well into the prison and, although our survey
revealed some negative prisoner perceptions about their personal safety,
violence was rare. There was some evidence to suggest that greater staff
visibility around the prison would have supported more assurance and
confidence among the prisoner population. Over a quarter of the population
thought it was easy to access illegal drugs, although the mandatory drugs
testing rate was comparatively low. All other indicators concerning safety were
encouraging with, for example, very little self-harm and very few abscond or
temporary release (ROTL) failures.
The prison was an overwhelmingly respectful institution. Relationships between
staff and prisoners were good, the environment was excellent and there had
been improvements to living conditions. Prisoner consultation and systems for
redress were effective and some very useful work was taking place to support
and promote equality. Outcomes in health care were similarly good.
Prisoners had opportunities for spending time out of their rooms, access to the
grounds, and a range of enrichment activities. Beyond that, however, the
regime had significant shortcomings. Enrichment activities for an increasingly
younger population were less well developed than for those aged over 50, and
prisoners were not allowed to use an impressive new sports field unsupervised.
The curriculum failed to meet prisoner needs and not all work and education
opportunities were meaningful or useful. Too few learners obtained
qualifications that might have assisted progression and the reading strategy had
been implemented too slowly. More needed to be made of the otherwise useful
ROTL supported external work placements programme. Our partners in Ofsted
judged the overall effectiveness of work and education provision to be
‘inadequate’, their lowest assessment.
The prison was working hard to encourage prisoners to maintain family ties and
offender management interventions were generally good, with reasonable
amounts of individual contact. An on-site psychology team provided support to
complex prisoners and those presenting the greatest risk and in general, public
protection arrangements were robust. Release planning focused on providing
practical support and accommodation and was effective, as evidenced by the
88% of prisoners approaching release who, in our survey, indicated they were
being helped to prepare for it.
As we concluded our inspection, the prison was facing a period of transition as
a new governor took up post. Our assessment was that the prison had been
well led, was settled and had a focus on ensuring decent living conditions and
good relationships. The inadequacies of the regime were, however, concerning
and needed to be prioritised.
Charlie Taylor
