United Kingdom · South-East & East · Norfolk
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UK YOI prison operated by HM Prison & Probation Service. Listed in the GOV.UK Find a prison directory.
Capacity
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Current population
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Occupancy
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Year opened
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Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 7 Jul 2026 · methodology
Operator
HM Prison & Probation ServicePopulation held
male
Opened
—
Region
South-East & East
Security level
Medium
Death-row facility
No
drugs getting in. built category C training site and a small open resettlement facility, made the following judgements about outcomes for prisoners. Figure 1: HMP Norwich healthy prison outcomes in 2019 and 2022 Poor training site and a small open resettlement facility, known as Britannia House. At this inspection, we found improved outcomes in our healthy prison test of — UK IMB Annual Report (2024) — Safety: From its observations, the Board believes that overall, prison staff are committed to maintaining prisoners’ safety, despite the challenges they face with increasing rates of violence and self-harm, the presence of illicit drugs, and other prohibited items. In the IMB 2024/25 Questionnaire (IMB questionnaire), 74% of prisoners surveyed said they felt safe in the establishment, an increase from [...] Respect: 5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food Accommodation The Board is concerned that: • As previously reported, some buildings are in a state of disrepair. B and K wings and Britannia House flooded during the bad weather. The roof in K wing leaked during the winter and the board observed that buckets were used to collect the water. This is a health and safety hazard. • Some of the cells in F wing have [...] Purposeful activity: Library The Board is pleased to observe that: • The PPO Education Skills & Work 2023/24 (ESW) self-assessment report noted ‘Previously poor facilities have been improved with new centralised libraries.’. • The librarians continue to provide a high level of support to the prisoners and have exhibited examples of going above and beyond. However, the Board is concerned that: • Only 21 hours of [...] Preparation for release: The Board is pleased to observe that: • In a year when so much has been asked of POMs and prison probation staff by the Government, the Board can only reiterate how they continue to work tirelessly to support the sentenced prisoners. However, the Board is concerned that: • With prison places at a premium, the ability to transfer out of a local prison for sentenced prisoners is now more difficult. [...]
visits from family and friends.
Format: Prisoner Name & Number, HMP Norwich, HMP/YOI Norwich Knox Road Norwich Norfolk NR1 4LU 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.
prison library. We want work and education to help released. education. built category C training site and a small open resettlement facility, training site and a small open resettlement facility, known as Britannia House.
drugs getting in.
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
What the score is responding to:
This facility scores 15. The national average across 584 scored United Kingdom facilities is 4 — 11 points above national average.
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
What should the prison do? We want the governor to read the report we wrote about Norwich and make a plan. The plan should tell us how they will fix the problems at Norwich and make things better for prisoners. You can find the report we wrote in the prison library. What do we want to happen? We want the prison to do more to stop drugs getting in. We want the prison to do more to help prisoners who might harm themselves. We want the prison to be less crowded. We want the prison to be clean. We want broken things to be fixed. We want prisoners to get replies to simple requests more quickly. We want prisoners to have more time out of their cells. We want prisoners with serious mental health problems to be moved to secure hospitals more quickly. We want work and education to help prisoners get jobs when they are released. We want more prisoners to go to education. We want prisoners to get more help to change their behaviour. We want prisoners to be able to have visits from family and friends. We want the prison to do more to help prisoners find somewhere to live before they leave the jail. What will we do? We will come back in a few years to check how well the prison is doing. We will write a report to tell people what we find. If you have any questions, please write to us: HM Inspectorate of Prisons 3rd floor 10 South Colonnade Canary Wharf London E14 4PU
The Board is pleased to observe that: • In a year when so much has been asked of POMs and prison probation staff by the Government, the Board can only reiterate how they continue to work tirelessly to support the sentenced prisoners. However, the Board is concerned that: • With prison places at a premium, the ability to transfer out of a local prison for sentenced prisoners is now more difficult. This results in delays in accessing important courses needed for their sentence management plans because there are no courses to assist offenders in their rehabilitation in HMP/YOI Norwich. This has been raised in previous reports as prisoners are not able to make progress for when they go to the parole board. The Board is pleased to observe that: • The prison continues to work hard to enable prisoners to maintain family contact, well supported by Ormiston Families. • Members from Ormiston Families regularly visit the induction wing and library to ensure that prisoners are aware of Storybook Dads. Courtesy of a charitable donation, the dad’s recordings are now accompanied by a copy of the relevant book. • The prison and Ormiston Families continue to arrange children’s social visits and family days, bringing together men and their families for social visits in addition to their statutory entitlement in informal settings, for a small number of qualifying prisoners. • Category D prisoners now have access to children’s social visits inclusive of lunch held at the visitor centre. Mothers [...]
5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food Accommodation The Board is concerned that: • As previously reported, some buildings are in a state of disrepair. B and K wings and Britannia House flooded during the bad weather. The roof in K wing leaked during the winter and the board observed that buckets were used to collect the water. This is a health and safety hazard. • Some of the cells in F wing have mould in them. • The heating system throughout the prison continues to be a great concern. Despite a relatively mild winter, many of the cells in A and B wings were cold with prisoners requiring extra blankets and sleeping in their bunks fully dressed. Some cells had faulty windows which were not repaired despite being reported during the summer period. There was a shortage of blankets in the establishment. The same problems occurred in F and G wings on the category C site. • Washing machines on landings were often broken and issues at HMP Whitemoor laundry meant there were frequently no kit changes. Prisoners reported to the IMB that they were laundering sheets etc. in the wings. • As mentioned in previous reports, prisoners working in kitchens and the market garden state that they do not get enough time for domestics (showers, etc). They must often shower immediately when they return to the wings, making them late collecting their meals from the servery. • There is no immediate access to a defibrillator in K wing. Food The Board is pleased to observe that: • The food menu is designed [...]
From its observations, the Board believes that overall, prison staff are committed to maintaining prisoners’ safety, despite the challenges they face with increasing rates of violence and self-harm, the presence of illicit drugs, and other prohibited items. In the IMB 2024/25 Questionnaire (IMB questionnaire), 74% of prisoners surveyed said they felt safe in the establishment, an increase from 67% last year. The Board remains concerned at the lack of consistency and supervision of the completion of ACCT documents. 4.1 Reception and induction The Board is pleased to observe that: • Prison staff and orderlies continue to deal compassionately with all prisoners, particularly those in prison for the first time. • Prisoners are provided with breakfast packs and some toiletries, and they can buy grocery packs, vape packs and items such as paper and pens. Reception staff identify prisoners’ needs and where possible, make provision for them, such as offering a variety of meals to meet most dietary/religious requirements and female toiletries/clothing for transgender prisoners. • Prisoners are processed and assessed by a nurse to identify their medical and mental health needs. All prisoners go through the body scanner and those who are identified as having secreted items are managed appropriately, in accordance with prison policies. • Being a local prison, HMP/YOI Norwich accepts arrivals at any time of the day or night. If prisoners arrive outside of working hours, they go through a [...]
Library The Board is pleased to observe that: • The PPO Education Skills & Work 2023/24 (ESW) self-assessment report noted ‘Previously poor facilities have been improved with new centralised libraries.’. • The librarians continue to provide a high level of support to the prisoners and have exhibited examples of going above and beyond. However, the Board is concerned that: • Only 21 hours of library are provided under the contract with Suffolk Libraries; not enough time for hours to be allocated to L wing, healthcare wing, the segregation unit and Britannia House. The prison must rely upon donations to provide these prisoners with access to books. • As mentioned in last year’s report, the location of the centralised library prevents those with mobility issues from accessing the facility easily. Although the library may be accessed via a lift in the education block, it is not always possible for prisoners with mobility issues to leave their wings to reach it. • Prisoners’ attendance at the library within the category B prison is heavily dependent on the availability of officers to accompany them. • 61% of prisoners who responded to IMB questionnaire felt that they were receiving their full library allocation. Prisoners responding to the IMB questionnaire said: • ‘Only been to library twice in 8 weeks. Insufficient officers to take the prisoners there.’ • ‘You can sometimes go without library but when it’s on it’s good.’ • ‘It’s hit and miss as to whether staff do library and [...]
1.1 Holding about 750 adult male prisoners, HMP Norwich fulfils several functions and is spread over three adjacent sites. The main prison is a traditional reception jail, but it is complemented by a separate 1960s- built category C training site and a small open resettlement facility, known as Britannia House. 1.2 At our previous inspections of HMP Norwich in 2019 and 2022 we made the following judgements about outcomes for prisoners. Figure 1: HMP Norwich healthy prison outcomes in 2019 and 2022 Good Reasonably good Not sufficiently good Poor
Holding about 700 adult male prisoners, Norwich prison fulfils several functions and is spread over three adjacent sites. The main prison is a traditional reception jail, but it is complimented by a separate 1960s-built category C training site and a small open resettlement facility, known as Britannia House. At this inspection, we found improved outcomes in our healthy prison test of
Full inspection of HMP/YOI Norwich (2019-10-21)
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World Prisons. (2026). HMP Norwich. Retrieved July 21, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-norwich
"HMP Norwich." World Prisons. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-norwich.
@misc{worldprisons-hmp-norwich,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {HMP Norwich},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-norwich},
urldate = {2026-07-21}
}