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Independent Monitoring Boards annual report

Leyhill

Report year 2026 Published 17 Aug 2026 Type Prison, category D open prison for men Population 473 Responsible body HMP Leyhill 13 recommendations

Original IMB report page ↗ imb.org.uk ↗

The summary and positive findings below were written from the report by an AI model. The Board's own wording is in the report linked above.

Summary

Summary written by this site (AI-generated)
HMP Leyhill, a Category D open prison, has maintained a generally stable and positive environment despite a transitional phase and increasing population complexity, with notable progress in purposeful activity and managing increased workloads. Key challenges include persistent issues with Approved Premises availability, the unjust detention of IPP prisoners, and significant reductions in education provision. The IMB continues to advocate for improvements in these areas to support fair treatment and successful resettlement.

Positive findings

Summary written by this site (AI-generated)
Leyhill maintained generally good staff-prisoner relationships and demonstrated caring behaviour towards vulnerable prisoners, supported by an effective chaplaincy team. The Board commended effective management of equality, diversity, and inclusion, along with satisfactory healthcare waiting times and high prisoner satisfaction. Progress was noted in reducing self-harm incidents, managing increased workloads, and streamlining ROTL processes. The strategy for coordinating education, skills, and work to improve employability was praised, as were successful incentive schemes and the incentivised substance-free living initiative.

Recommendations

All 13 recommendations

Key concerns

All 8 key concerns

Recommendations 13 items · 1 repeated

Recommendations were extracted from the report by AI, and responses and their status from the ministerial response by AI. Each recommendation shows whether its wording has been checked against the report.

Recommendation 1

Addressee: Ministry of Justice · Topic: Resettlement

Recommendation (the Board's words)
What action will the Minister take to remedy the lack of spaces in approved premises, which leads to some prisoners facing incarceration beyond their release dates and many experiencing delays in progression towards their eligibility for parole?

Source text verified

Recommendation 2

Addressee: Ministry of Justice · Topic: Food

Recommendation (the Board's words)
Will the Minister seek to increase the catering budget in proportion to future rises in food prices?

Source text verified

Recommendation 3

Addressee: Ministry of Justice · Topic: Regime

Recommendation (the Board's words)
Will the Minister ensure that following a successful trial, controlled mobile phones with limited access will be made available to all prisoners at HMP Leyhill?

Source text verified

Recommendation 4

Addressee: Ministry of Justice · Topic: Resettlement

Recommendation (the Board's words)
Will the Minister seek to encourage local and national businesses to provide work experience to prisoners that will lead to employment opportunities on release?

Source text verified

Recommendation 5

Addressee: HMPPS · Topic: Resettlement · Repeated from a previous year

Recommendation (the Board's words)
What further action will be taken to speed up the release and resettlement of prisoners serving IPP sentences, many of whom have spent far longer in custody than their indicative tariffs?

Source text verified

Recommendation 6

Addressee: HMPPS · Topic: Resettlement

Recommendation (the Board's words)
What steps will be taken to improve the efficiency of community offender managers (COMs) in the external Probation Service, whose workload continues to increase significantly under the early release schemes?

Source text verified

Recommendation 7

Addressee: HMPPS · Topic: Education

Recommendation (the Board's words)
Will the Prison Service seek to expand national opportunities for prisoners to gain work experience and qualifications before release?

Source text verified

Recommendation 8

Addressee: HMPPS · Topic: Regime

Recommendation (the Board's words)
What steps will the Prison Service take to improve access to transport for prisoners working externally to gain valuable experience before release?

Source text verified

Recommendation 9

Addressee: HMPPS · Topic: Regime

Recommendation (the Board's words)
Will the Prison Service apply the volumetric limits in the prisoners’ property policy framework at all establishments to ease problems with prisoner property during transfers?

Source text verified

Recommendation 10

Addressee: HMPPS · Topic: Education

Recommendation (the Board's words)
Will the Prison Service ensure that the contractor providing educational services fulfils the requirements of the contract?

Source text verified

Recommendation 11

Addressee: Governor / Director · Topic: Resettlement

Recommendation (the Board's words)
The Board encourages the Governor to build on the continued improvements made in the ROTL process.

Source text verified

Recommendation 12

Addressee: Governor / Director · Topic: Estate

Recommendation (the Board's words)
The Board urges the Governor to maintain the current standards at Leyhill in the forthcoming refurbishment and upgrade of facilities, occupation of the rapid deployment cells and challenges imposed on the prison by the implementation of the Sentencing Act 2026.

Source text verified

Recommendation 13

Addressee: Governor / Director · Topic: Resettlement

Recommendation (the Board's words)
The Board encourages the Governor to continue prioritising the increase in number of prisoners gaining external work experience in order to secure employment on release.

Source text verified

Key concerns 8 items

Key concerns were extracted from the report text by an AI model.

Key concern 1

Resettlement/Release · Repeated from a previous year

The low availability of spaces in approved premises (supervised accommodation) can result in a delay in progression to release on parole for a small number of prisoners, which the Board believes is unjust

Key concern 2

Other · Repeated from a previous year

Nearly all the 69 prisoners on indeterminate IPP (imprisonment for public protection) sentences in the prison remain in prison beyond their indicative tariff... The IMB regards this as deeply unfair, particularly as Parliament has recognised that the sentence was unjust in the first place

Key concern 3

Education/Purposeful Activity

The IMB is concerned that such a funding reduction [40% reduction in education hours] represents a significant challenge to Leyhill

Key concern 4

Regime/Time Out of Cell · Repeated from a previous year

The Board remains concerned about property transfers between Leyhill and other establishments, with items often reported lost or misplaced. The 2022 national prisoners’ property policy framework sought to address storage issues through volumetric control... However, the policy has not been fully implemented at all locations.

Key concern 5

Safety

The emergency call buttons on residential landings and pull alarms in recesses are not working. This is a risk to the more elderly and vulnerable prisoners.

Key concern 6

Resettlement/Release

The Board acknowledges that the higher proportion of PCoSOs at Leyhill will make it more difficult to increase the number of prisoners in external employment.

Key concern 7

Staffing

consistent tutor shortfalls due to sickness, holiday or delayed recruitment with no back-up provision.

Key concern 8

Regime/Time Out of Cell

The Board has noted regular faults affecting the installed BT phones. Reported issues have been linked to cabling, handsets, on-site hardware and software. At times, these faults have been resulted in extended periods of reduced access or complete failure, which can contribute to prisoner frustration and stress.

Safety statistics

Incidents during the reporting year.

IndicatorThis yearPrevious
Deaths in custody1not recorded
Self-harm incidents5not recorded
ACCT cases opened26not recorded
Prisoner assaults6not recorded
Assaults on staff2not recorded
Use of force11not recorded
Drug finds14not recorded

Population

Population473
Operational capacity474

Applications to the IMB

CategoryCurrentPrevious
Accommodation, including laundry, clothing, ablutions 1 1
Canteen, facility list, catalogues 0 1
Discipline, including adjudications, incentives scheme, sanctions 1 1
Equality 0 1
Finance, including pay, private monies, spends 2 1
Food and kitchens 1 2
Health, including physical, mental, social care 3 1
Letters, visits, telephones, public protection, restrictions 1 1
Miscellaneous 3 1
Property during transfer or in another facility 4 6
Property within the establishment 3 0
Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, time out of cell 1 1
Sentence management, including HDC, ROTL, parole, release dates, re-categorisation 7 11
Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying 1 8
Transfers 0 0

Report details

Establishment
Leyhill
Type
Prison, category D open prison for men
Report year
2026
Published
17 August 2026
Responsible body
HMP Leyhill
Recommendations
13
MoJ rating (2025/26)
4, Outstanding

Service providers

ServiceProvider
EducationMilton Keynes College
Escort contractorGeoAmey
HealthcareOxleas NHS Foundation Trust
Optical servicesSpecsavers
Social careSouth Gloucestershire Council
Substance MisuseChange, Grow, Live

Related inspections and investigations

HMIP inspection, 6 Jul 2026

Unannounced

HMIP inspection, 12 Jun 2023

Unannounced · Safety 4 · Respect 4 · Activity 1 · Release 3

HMIP inspection, 2 Mar 2021

Inspection

Kevin Noel

PPO fatal incident · 18 Jan 2024 · Natural causes

Other reports for Leyhill

2025

Published 29 Jul 2025 · Population 464 · Self-harm 22 · Key concerns recorded

2024

Published 5 Jul 2024 · Population 449 · Self-harm 13 · Key concerns recorded

2023

Published 17 Aug 2023 · Population 462 · Self-harm 5 · Key concerns recorded

2022

Published 15 Jun 2022 · Population 447 · Key concerns recorded

2021

Published 18 May 2021 · Population 497 · Key concerns recorded

2020

Published 2 Jun 2020 · Population 507 · Key concerns recorded