Key concerns 16 items
Key concerns were extracted from the report text by an AI model.
Key concern 1
Mental Health · Repeated from a previous year
High levels of self-harm among prisoners with challenging and complex mental health needs, who continue to be accommodated at the establishment rather than being transferred to more specialist secure mental health facilities.
Key concern 2
Safety
Spikes in the levels of violence, prisoner debt, and substance misuse.
Key concern 3
Overcrowding · Repeated from a previous year
As in previous reports, and due to pressure on prison accommodation nationally, the Board notes that a minority of prisoners continue to be accommodated in cramped double cells. Not only are there privacy issues, but there have been instances of prisoner-on-prisoner violence in such cells.
Key concern 4
Estate/Conditions
Outstanding estate issues, including poor ventilation in cells, absence of door screens, broken washing machines, and overflows and poor drainage in wet weather.
Key concern 5
Complaints/Property · Repeated from a previous year
The Board continues to encounter evidence relating to the handling of complaints from prisoners. While the number of overdue complaints is still relatively low, some responses to complaints related to previous prisons have been very late, despite prompting by business hub staff. We remain concerned about prisoners sometimes not being kept up to date on the progress of their complaints.
Key concern 6
Other · Repeated from a previous year
The treatment of prisoners’ property remains an issue of concern, especially when prisoners transfer from other prisons.
Key concern 7
Healthcare · Repeated from a previous year
Monitoring by the Board during the reporting year suggests that the prison, again, offers variable levels of primary healthcare to prisoners. The number of applications (prisoners’ written representations) to the Board regarding healthcare has continued to be high (as in 2024-2025). However, from our observations, new management of healthcare mid-year to have improved issues of communication (both with prisoners and the Board).
Key concern 8
Mental Health · Repeated from a previous year
Challenges in the provision of mental healthcare, including difficulties in finding suitable alternative specialist accommodation for prisoners with serious mental health difficulties.
Key concern 9
Education/Purposeful Activity · Repeated from a previous year
A 41% reduction in education and training hours, leading to truncated courses, a narrower offer for prisoners, and many unoccupied spaces in the education centre.
Key concern 10
Resettlement/Release
We remain impressed by the support for social visits. With an increasing number of prisoners living at a distance from families, we are concerned by the time/cost of visits to Lancaster Farms. Social video calls between prisoners and families are available.
Key concern 11
Staffing · Repeated from a previous year
Whilst we continued to be informed that the prison is ‘well staffed’ by the Governor, we remain concerned by instances when there are multiple officers on ‘detached duties’ or emergency escorts are required to attend outside hospital, which reduces overall staffing provision for the rest of the prison.
Key concern 12
Safety · Repeated from a previous year
Body-worn video camera (BWVC) coverage was available for 67.7% of incidents and is subject to weekly scrutiny through a formal review process, with non-compliance addressed decisively. The Board has raised significant concerns regarding incomplete coverage, given that these recordings provide impartial and verifiable evidence essential for operational accountability and the mitigation of potential legal risk. Notably, five serious incidents later in the reporting period required activation of the command suite (the prison’s operational control centre, where incidents are monitored and managed in real time), all of which were resolved without escalation to national tactical intervention (a specialist, centrally coordinated response to serious incidents). This underscores the critical role of timely and accurate BWVC evidence in ensuring both staff safety and effective operational governance.
Key concern 13
Substance Misuse
1 The introduction of illicit items, particularly drugs, remains a significant and evolving risk at HMP Lancaster Farms. Drones are one method of concern, facilitated by the prison’s open landscape and proximity to the M6 and surrounding high ground. Recent incidents include a drone crash within the perimeter and a landing within one metre of a residential wing. Drones also present the potential to deliver other illicit items, including weapons, significantly increasing the risk to staff and prisoners. 4.5.2 Delivery methods have evolved. But illicit substances also enter via visits and allegedly through staff.
Key concern 14
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The prison has recently implemented restrictions on unescorted movement, and enhanced night patrols. While appropriate, these measures do not, in the Board’s view, fully mitigate risks arising from the prison’s geography, evolving supply methods and multiple ingress routes. Higher drug use has been noted in prison data during lockdowns, emphasising the importance of meaningful activity, education, and engagement.
Key concern 15
Other
We received complaints from some men that they were not allowed some books that had been sent in by friends and family over the Christmas period. When we raised this with the Governor, they acknowledged that this was not in line with national policies, but necessary for the security of the prison to control the influx of illicit substances into the establishment. This is even though it states on the prison website that ‘family and Friends of prisoners are permitted to send books directly to their loved ones, or can order books from approved retailers’. The Governor did offer to buy any books requested by prisoners for the prison library, but the Board is not convinced that this will work in practice, and it does not alter our position that the prison should be adhering to the national policy.
Key concern 16
Other
5 We also received separate complaints about the handling of Rule 39 mail at Lancaster Farms, where men are expected to open the mail in front of prison staff. Prisoners are not allowed to keep the mail, and if they would like a copy, they can either give written consent for the staff to take the mail to be photocopied or they can be escorted to reception for the mail to be copied in front of them. The original mail is then placed in an evidence bag and put into their stored property.