Prison
Cat B
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Manchester
IMB Annual Report 2022 · Published 19 August 2022
HMP Manchester navigated a challenging year with ongoing Covid-19 restrictions and its transition to a Category B training prison. While commendations were noted for efforts in safety and equality, persistent staffing shortages severely impacted regime consistency, prisoner treatment, and access to services. Key concerns highlighted delays in vital estate improvements, an unacceptable wait for dental care, and significant issues with prisoner property and escorts to healthcare appointments.
Positive Findings
The Board acknowledges the extensive efforts made by prison management and staff to provide a safe and humane environment, with particular commendation for improvements in equality and diversity. Progress has been made in restoring activities post-Covid, reducing violence, and installing kitchenettes on wings. The healthcare telephone triage system is effective, and the library is well-stocked. The Board also welcomes the reopening of the waste management unit and the bakery's new external contract.
Key Concerns
Estate/Conditions
Repeated
The physical estate continues to cause us concern. The long-awaited installation of safety windows has still not commenced and a section of the prison grounds is cordoned off due to necessary work on the central tower which has yet to be agreed. As a result there is a problem with litter.
Safety
under normal regime prisoners do not currently feel safe in the prison
Staffing
The biggest obstacle to fair and humane treatment of prisoners in this reporting year appears to be inadequate or fluctuating staffing levels. This has caused unfair and inhumane treatment in various ways ranging from category A, segregation, and CSC prisoners not being able to attend medical appointments to inconsistency and delay in the key worker programme.
Healthcare
Prisoners’ access to outpatient healthcare is good with acceptable waiting times apart from dentistry which has a completely unacceptable waiting time of 70 days.
Healthcare
The Board is concerned that there seems to be a problem in ensuring that category A, segregation and CSC prisoners attend for appointments in the healthcare centre due to the non-provision of escort staff.
Safety
use of force documents are not being completed in a consistent and timely manner.
Other
Property complaints and issues continue to remain a cause of concern for the Board. IMB applications for the reporting year again evidence this, as applications relating to property are once again in the majority, especially in relation to internal property complaints.
Other
The Board is concerned about the length of time it can take for property to follow a prisoner from previous establishments. This can sometimes take months and we feel this is unacceptable.
Safety
Self-harm rose sharply in September 2021 and has remained higher since then. This rise coincides with the regime opening up more with prisoners being allowed to return to mixing in larger bubbles, more gym sessions, visits recommencing etc. This may have impacted on how safe prisoners felt. This rise in self-harm also coincides with increased Covid-related staff shortages.
Healthcare
The Board noted that in the healthcare unit of 18 beds there are usually between 17 and 22 different regimes in operation which is expensive in terms of resources. This can affect officers’ ability to give individual attention to all prisoners on the unit.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Education was heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. This was not entirely due to the requirement for social distancing but also due to increased staff shortages which had to reduce the regime to essential services.
Education/Purposeful Activity
courses which would provide useful skills upon leaving the prison were stopped due to the fact that prisoners in HMP Manchester are now long-term and very few will be released directly from the establishment. Unfortunately, Covid restrictions have meant that the expansion of training and educational courses suitable for long-term prisoners has not really been possible.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
There were several prisoners spoken to that served shorter sentences of less than three years and the Board consistently observed that such prisoners had little to no opportunity for progression due to the pandemic and the restrictions it presented.
Resettlement/Release
Prisoners sometimes expressed concerns about not seeing their prison offender managers and some were unclear of the actions they would be required to take upon release. Furthermore, a number of prisoners were unclear about their sentence plan and took their own initiative to find ways to progress.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Fluctuating staffing levels, partly due to Covid, were identified as the biggest obstacle to fair and humane treatment, impacting the key worker programme and escort provision for medical appointments. Staff shortages are also linked to an increase in prisoner self-harm and violence incidents. The healthcare unit is operating with 12 vacancies across various disciplines, relying on agency nurses. Recruitment and retention issues are a national concern.
Healthcare
The healthcare unit, staffed by 61 members but with 12 vacancies, uses a well-functioning telephone appointment and triage system. GP and psychiatrist waiting times are acceptable, but dental treatment has an unacceptable 70-day wait due to Covid restrictions. A significant concern is the difficulty in ensuring Category A, segregation, and CSC prisoners attend appointments due to a lack of escort staff. The inpatient unit faces challenges with high occupancy and a wide variety of individual regimes.
Regime & Daily Life
At the start of the reporting year, Covid restrictions severely limited time out of cell and suspended education and work activities. While activities gradually reintroduced, they remained reduced. The easing of restrictions coincided with a rise in self-harm, possibly due to prisoners feeling less safe when mixing more. Education delivery was heavily impacted, relying mostly on in-cell learning due to staff shortages. Purposeful activity and vocational training were affected by the prison's transition to a long-term training establishment and ongoing staff shortages.
Applications to the IMB
Prisoners can apply to their IMB about any aspect of their treatment. This table shows application counts by category.
| Category | Current | Previous | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation, including laundry, clothing, ablutions | 3 | 13 | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogue(s) | 8 | 3 | |
| Discipline, including adjudications, incentives schemes, sanctions | 6 | 6 | — |
| Equality | 3 | 2 | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 2 | 0 | |
| Food and kitchens | 1 | 4 | |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 9 | 15 | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection restrictions | 24 | 15 | |
| Miscellaneous, including complaints system | 36 | 42 | |
| Property during transfer or in another establishment or location | 25 | 29 | |
| Property within this establishment | 24 | 14 | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, library, regime, time out of cell | 2 | 4 | |
| Sentence management, including home detention curfew, release on temporary licence, parole, release dates, recategorisation | 7 | 23 | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 13 | 9 | |
| Transfers | 7 | 14 |
Recommendations (6)
Ministry of Justice: 1
HMPPS: 2
Governor / Director: 3
1 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Can the minister please tell us when the work will commence and when it is due to be completed?
Ministry of Justice
Estate
Recommendation 2
Does HMPPS plan to take any action to address these issues at national level?
HMPPS
Staffing
Recommendation 3
Does HMPPS plan any review of this process to identify how it could be improved?
HMPPS
Other
Recommendation 4
How does the Governor plan to address this?
Governor / Director
Safety
Recommendation 5
Will the Governor be monitoring the waiting times for dental treatment and working with the prison’s healthcare provider through the local delivery board to reduce them?
Governor / Director
Healthcare
Recommendation 6
Does the Governor have plans to address this?
Governor / Director
Healthcare
Other IMB Reports for Manchester
2025
Published 4 Nov 2025
2024
Published 4 Nov 2025
2023
Published 4 Nov 2025
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
12 Jan 2026
Unannounced
9 Oct 2024
Urgent Notification
17 Sep 2024
Unannounced
Safety: 1
Respect: 1
Activity: 1
Release: 3
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.
Prevention of Future Deaths Reports
Coroner PFD reports issued to this establishment.