United Kingdom · North-West · Lancashire
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UK Local 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
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Region
North-West
Security level
Medium
Death-row facility
No
population of 1,182 prisoners, of whom over half were convicted of a sexual There had been a failure by senior leaders to invest in the prison. The kitchen the main site limited to a part-time regime. Those who were unemployed were locked up for 21 hours a day and the regime at the weekend was poor for all. and there had not been enough direct oversite from senior leaders or a strong The strong staff-prisoner relationships, which we noted in previous inspections, positive experiences than in other jails. — UK IMB Annual Report (2024) — Safety: 4.1 Reception and induction During this reporting year, as was the case in the previous year, there were, on average, between 10 and 15 prisoners arriving each week from other custodial establishments. The number arriving peaked at 29 during one week in October 2024 to occupy the places vacated by those leaving under the SDS402 early release scheme. The Board visited the reception area [...] Respect: 5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food Some of the accommodation issues mentioned in the last report have been addressed, such as, for example, the blocked guttering around the administration building, However, the damage caused by the vegetation growing out of the roof has not been addressed. There continue to be many leaks, causing further damage. The fabric of the buildings remains poor and, in [...] Purposeful activity: According to the Prison Education & Library Service for Adult Prisons in England Policy framework, ‘The prison library should provide an accessible service which has a focus on supporting learning, improving literacy and other barriers to effective resettlement. It should promote reading as a source of pleasure and provide prisoners with opportunities for wider cultural engagement.’ During the [...] Preparation for release: Low staffing throughout the year has meant that prison offender managers (POMs) had to be redeployed to support the prison regime. Key work sessions were also curtailed for the same reason. This has meant that prisoners were not able to meet their key worker on a regular basis and opportunities to help them with problems were not always available. Offender management unit (OMU) staff have had to [...]
The provision of visits was good and there a number of family days were held who did not get social visits. Despite staffing shortages there was some good
Format: Prisoner Name & Number, HMP Wymott, HMP Wymott Ulnes Walton Lane Leyland Preston Lancashire PR26 8LW 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.
to the roof of one of the workshops meant that it was out of use, leaving too many prisoners without purposeful activity and subsequently high levels of the main site limited to a part-time regime. Those who were unemployed were locked up for 21 hours a day and the regime at the weekend was poor for all. Ofsted colleagues assessed the quality of education as requiring improvement enough focus on the education and training function of the jail. Health care was not good enough, particularly the provision of mental health survey, 20% of prisoners with mental health difficulties told us they had work to support sentence progression and there was a wide range of accredited programmes available.
developed a problem with drugs since they had arrived at Wymott. The influx of drugs remained a serious problem. It was a cause of debt that resulted in prisoners self-isolating and self-harming because of their fears of violence. There were limited resources available to keep drugs out of the prison the frequent arrival of contraband-laden drones over the large perimeter fence.
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.
According to the Prison Education & Library Service for Adult Prisons in England Policy framework, ‘The prison library should provide an accessible service which has a focus on supporting learning, improving literacy and other barriers to effective resettlement. It should promote reading as a source of pleasure and provide prisoners with opportunities for wider cultural engagement.’ During the reporting period, there has been very little library access for the prisoners. Those who are in education, in classrooms located in the library, were able to access the library whenever they were in education. All other prisoners located on the wings or at activities were only able to access the library when wing staff or escorts were available to escort the men across. Prisoners have stated how much they value their time in the library. The calm environment helps with their mental health and social interaction. As most prisoners on the main category C side of the prison have not been able to attend the workshops throughout the year, loss of the library as well has had a negative effect on their mental wellbeing. The number of librarians has been reduced from four to two and both of these are part time. As a result, there were 71 sessions when the library was closed. These were mainly due to regime restrictions and when one of the librarians was sick or on holiday. To compensate for the lack of access, some small satellite ‘libraries’ have been set up on certain wings. Access to the [...]
4.1 Reception and induction During this reporting year, as was the case in the previous year, there were, on average, between 10 and 15 prisoners arriving each week from other custodial establishments. The number arriving peaked at 29 during one week in October 2024 to occupy the places vacated by those leaving under the SDS402 early release scheme. The Board visited the reception area periodically and spoke to new prisoners about their experience and welfare. Prisoners were offered refreshment and food. Health and welfare checks were carried out and each prisoner had a first night interview as part of the induction process. The arrival of prisoners late on Friday afternoons during some weeks appeared to cause a high workload for reception staff. On occasion, staff extended their working hours in order to complete the first night induction for new prisoners. The Board was concerned about the movement of prisoners around the estate in the period just before Christmas, and between Christmas and New Year, which appeared to be disruptive for them and their visiting families. During periods when there has been very little spare capacity within the male prison estate, HMP Wymott had to comply with directions from HMPPS Population Management regarding transfers in and out of the prison. Although Board members did not observe prisoner inductions, all new prisoners were sent a leaflet and an introduction letter explaining the role of IMB and a slip to return if they would like a [...]
Low staffing throughout the year has meant that prison offender managers (POMs) had to be redeployed to support the prison regime. Key work sessions were also curtailed for the same reason. This has meant that prisoners were not able to meet their key worker on a regular basis and opportunities to help them with problems were not always available. Offender management unit (OMU) staff have had to prioritise prisoners who were eligible for the early release schemes. This has resulted in other prisoners having had limited access to their POMs, particularly when POMs had to be deployed elsewhere in the prison to support the regime. The Board received 45 applications regarding sentence management. Over 50% of these related to prisoners wanting transfers to other prisons or release under the early release schemes. An additional 26 applications were received, specifically regarding transfers to other establishments. In July 2024, assessments and delivery of existing offending behaviour courses, such as Kaizen, were being wound down, ready for the introduction of the new Building Choices accredited programmes. Prisoners are still coming into Wymott with sentence plans that identify older courses such as Kaizen. Building Choices does overlap in many areas with the previous courses and the programmes team checks and reassures the prisoner that the new course offers skills training that will address the areas highlighted in their sentence plans. Waiting lists for places on programmes [...]
5.1 Accommodation, clothing, food Some of the accommodation issues mentioned in the last report have been addressed, such as, for example, the blocked guttering around the administration building, However, the damage caused by the vegetation growing out of the roof has not been addressed. There continue to be many leaks, causing further damage. The fabric of the buildings remains poor and, in many cases, deplorable. The refurbishment of A and B wings has yet to start, the main contractor having gone into receivership. These wings remain unfit for purpose. They are the subject of constant repairs, especially to the sanitary facilities, which are often not carried out in a timely manner. Staff have told the Board that they are frequently not aware that maintenance workers from Amey, the contractors, are on the wing, they do not know what, if anything, has been done, and repairs are often signed off by Amey when they are not completed or reoccur very shortly afterwards. The design of these wings, where there are no clear lines of sight, also facilitates damage being caused by the prisoners themselves. Not only are A and B wings in a very poor state of repair, but they have also been the subject of problems with the supply of hot water and power outages. Broken equipment, such as the washing machine on A wing, has remained out of service for months, all of which was also reported last year. There have been problems with the residential units across the prison. Worst of all were [...]
HMP Wymott in Lancashire is a category C training prison with a large mixed population of 1,182 prisoners, of whom over half were convicted of a sexual offence. There had been a failure by senior leaders to invest in the prison. The kitchen was in a terrible state and the accommodation in house blocks A and B, which we criticised in our last two inspections, was now beyond repair. Some of the single cells that were holding two prisoners were unacceptably cramped, with an unscreened toilet in the corner and room for only one chair. Storm damage to the roof of one of the workshops meant that it was out of use, leaving too many prisoners without purposeful activity and subsequently high levels of boredom. Wymott was failing to fulfil its remit as a training prison, with many prisoners on the main site limited to a part-time regime. Those who were unemployed were locked up for 21 hours a day and the regime at the weekend was poor for all. Ofsted colleagues assessed the quality of education as requiring improvement and there had not been enough direct oversite from senior leaders or a strong enough focus on the education and training function of the jail. The strong staff-prisoner relationships, which we noted in previous inspections, continued to be a strength of this prison, where many prisoners reported more positive experiences than in other jails. Levels of staff sickness were far too high, leading to the cancellation or curtailment of activities; this needed to be addressed by leaders if the prison was to make progress. Health care was not good enough, particularly the provision of mental health support for the many vulnerable prisoners at Wymott. With excessive waits of up to 39 weeks for psychological therapies and over a year to get counselling, neither the health trust nor commissioners were addressing the level of need within the jail at the time of inspection. This may have also explained why, in our survey, 20% of prisoners with mental health difficulties told us they had developed a problem with drugs since they had arrived at Wymott. The influx of drugs remained a serious problem. It was a cause of debt that resulted in prisoners self-isolating and self-harming because of their fears of violence. There were limited resources available to keep drugs out of the prison with no scanners, systematic checks on staff or adequate technology to reduce the frequent arrival of contraband-laden drones over the large perimeter fence. The provision of visits was good and there a number of family days were held over the year. Leaders had also put thought into supporting the many prisoners who did not get social visits. Despite staffing shortages there was some good work to support sentence progression and there was a wide range of accredited programmes available. Although not a resettlement prison, Wymott was releasing around 20 prisoners a month because of population pressures elsewhere. Despite not having the funding, staff worked hard to support those who were leaving the jail through some good liaison with external services. Staff were rightly proud of much that went on at Wymott and leaders encouraged innovation – for example, the Haven Unit specialised in looking after some of the elderly and unwell prisoners who were a growing population within the jail. The new governor, supported by his experienced deputy, has the opportunity to build on the positives we highlight in this report. He particularly needs to focus on addressing the number of officers not available for duty and improving the provision of education, work and training which is not good enough for this type of prison. It will be a challenge however, if HMPPS does not fund the much-needed refurbishments that are now very much overdue. Charlie Taylor HM Chief Inspector of Prisons January 2024
Scrutiny inspection of HMP Wymott (2020-08-25)
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World Prisons. (2026). HMP Wymott. Retrieved July 22, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-wymott
"HMP Wymott." World Prisons. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-wymott.
@misc{worldprisons-hmp-wymott,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {HMP Wymott},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-wymott},
urldate = {2026-07-22}
}