Prison
Cat Open Women's YOI
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Askham Grange
IMB Annual Report 2021 · Published 28 March 2022
Askham Grange is a safe, open women's prison with a strong resettlement ethos, treating prisoners fairly and humanely, and providing good healthcare. Key concerns include the delayed decision on the prison's future, the potential removal of popular single-occupancy pods, and the ongoing transfer of women with short sentences, which hinders resettlement efforts.
Positive Findings
The Board considers Askham Grange a safe establishment, marked by good staff-prisoner relationships and well-maintained facilities. Prisoners are treated fairly and humanely, with staff demonstrating sensitivity during the pandemic. Healthcare provision is assessed as being as good as in the community, with a full complement of staff, high vaccination rates for Covid-19, and a new healthcare patients forum. The prison has a good record of preparing prisoners for resettlement, with education maintaining high standards through remote delivery and various initiatives to support lower-level learners and neurodiverse residents.
Key Concerns
Other
A decision concerning the future of HMP/YOI Askham Grange is long overdue and should be a priority in order that Askham Grange can formulate plans for its future appropriately.
Estate/Conditions
The contract for keeping the pods runs out in February 2022 and they are, we are told, to be removed from the prison. The pandemic has not gone away and the women are rightly concerned about moving back into shared accommodation. Whilst accepting that there is a budgetary concern in prolonging the contract, would it not be circumspect to do so in the circumstances?
Resettlement/Release
Repeated
Despite this being raised in previous reports, there are still prisoners with very little time left to serve being transferred in to Askham Grange. This has an impact on the level of work that can be undertaken with them prior to release and is not to their benefit.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Staff-prisoner relationships are generally very good, fostering open communication. Staff have shown particular sensitivity to the difficulties posed by the pandemic. Healthcare staffing saw an improvement, moving from four staff to a full complement of nine since July 2020. Personal officers completed their roles where staffing levels and Covid-related absences permitted.
Healthcare
Healthcare services are provided by Practice Plus Group, offering services comparable to the community, though without 24-hour coverage. Community-based services like dentistry and optometry faced some restrictions due to the pandemic. The prison achieved a high Covid-19 vaccination take-up rate. Despite a slight decline in mental wellbeing observed during the first year of the pandemic due to restrictions, mental health staff delivered mindfulness and CBT interventions. A healthcare patients forum was introduced in May 2021, receiving positive feedback and leading to few complaints but many compliments.
Regime & Daily Life
Askham Grange operates an open prison regime focused on resettlement, allowing prisoners freedom to move in the grounds during the day. However, the Covid-19 pandemic significantly disrupted this, curtailing exercise regimes, closing the on-site gym, and limiting outdoor equipment use. The introduction of 48 temporary pods provided popular single occupancy rooms, easing social distancing during the pandemic.
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 | 0 | 0 | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogue(s) | 1 | 0 | |
| Discipline, including adjudications, IEP, sanctions | 2 | 0 | |
| Equality | 1 | 0 | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 0 | 0 | |
| Food and kitchens | 0 | 0 | |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 2 | 1 | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection restrictions | 0 | 0 | |
| Miscellaneous, including complaints system | 2 | 3 | |
| Property during transfer or in another establishment or location | 0 | 0 | |
| Property within this establishment | 1 | 0 | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, library, regime, time out of cell | 2 | 1 | |
| Sentence management, including HDC, release on temporary licence, parole, release dates, recategorisation | 1 | 0 | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 1 | 1 | — |
| Transfers | 0 | 0 |
Recommendations (3)
Other: 1
HMPPS: 2
1 repeated
Recommendation 1
A decision concerning the future of HMP/YOI Askham Grange is long overdue and should be a priority in order that Askham Grange can formulate plans for its future appropriately.
Other
(minister)
Management
Recommendation 2
The arrival of pods at the beginning of the pandemic meant that no one had to share rooms and that women were kept as safe as possible. The contract for keeping the pods runs out in February 2022 and they are, we are told, to be removed from the prison. The pandemic has not gone away and the women are rightly concerned about moving back into shared accommodation. Whilst accepting that there is a budgetary concern in prolonging the contract, would it not be circumspect to do so in the circumstances?
HMPPS
Accommodation
Recommendation 3
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Despite this being raised in previous reports, there are still prisoners with very little time left to serve being transferred in to Askham Grange. This has an impact on the level of work that can be undertaken with them prior to release and is not to their benefit. Would the Prison Service ensure that only those with sufficient time left to serve are transferred to open conditions in order that resettlement plans can be fully implemented?
HMPPS
Resettlement
Other IMB Reports for Askham Grange
2022
Published 17 Jul 2025
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
19 Jun 2023
Unannounced
Safety: 4
Respect: 4
Activity: 4
Release: 4
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.