Prison
Cat A/B High Security
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Wakefield
IMB Annual Report 2025 · Published 27 February 2026
HMP Wakefield is a high-security prison for men, reporting an operational capacity of 744 and a population of 793. The Board noted significant improvements in staff recruitment and key worker sessions, as well as the delivery of healthcare and a varied education curriculum. However, it raises serious concerns regarding prisoner safety, including drone incursions and increased violence. Longstanding issues with delays in mental health transfers to hospitals, inadequate physical infrastructure, and insufficient purposeful activity opportunities for prisoners remain critical areas for development.
Positive Findings
HMP Wakefield continues to provide a regime that is, overall, fair and humane. The new dedicated vetting unit has significantly improved staff recruitment and reduced security check times, leading to better prisoner care. Improvements are being made in reducing segregation duration, supported by strong leadership. Key worker sessions have substantially increased, and the chaplaincy provides varied, effective support. Pharmacy services and mental health provision have seen significant improvements, with officers on the Mulberry unit commended for their dedication. The education department's ambitious curriculum helps prisoners achieve qualifications and develop new skills.
Key Concerns
Safety
Repeated
The prison continues to be ‘less safe’ than was the case in previous annual reports to 2022-2023.
Safety
Increasing safety concerns from vulnerable prisoners, due to the population mix which now includes a good proportion of prisoners not convicted of a sexual offence.
Safety
Serious concern about the threat posed by drone incursions and the conveyance of illicit items, impacting the safety of all at Wakefield.
Estate/Conditions
The physical condition of the residential accommodation remains a concern, affecting the ability of prisoners with mobility issues to access a full regime.
Mental Health
Repeated
Significant delays in accessing transfers to a secure hospital for prisoners who are in urgent need of mental health treatment.
Staffing
Safety of staff working in the Close Supervision Centre (Prison Rule 46) and the segregation unit (Prison Rule 45).
Estate/Conditions
Dissatisfaction with the lack of progress in upgrading the prison's physical infrastructure, which is creating frustration and leading to regime curtailment.
Other
Repeated
Prisoners do not receive ‘in possession’ property from reception in a timely manner, causing frustration.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Repeated
Too many prisoners are not meaningfully engaged in education or work opportunities.
Staffing
Issues with key work not being fulfilled due to operational reasons, despite evidence of improvement.
Other
Repeated
Prisoners substantially over tariff and subject to the consequences of abolished IPP sentences.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
The unavailability of the ‘astroturf’ sports pitch.
Mental Health
Repeated
Ongoing challenges with securing transfers to secure hospital for prisoners with complex mental ill-health and/or personality disorders.
Segregation
The segregation unit is unsuitable for prisoners with extreme forms of neurodiversity due to regime nature and behaviour of other Rule 45 prisoners.
Healthcare
Numerous missed healthcare appointments for prisoners, totalling 641 this year, due to communication issues and staff not fully understanding escort importance.
Mental Health
Staff on the Mulberry unit lack training for personality disorders in prisoners with co-occurring autism, leading to deterioration when suitable alternative accommodation is not found.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Lack of a contingency plan for library opening when the local council employee librarian is unavailable due to security vetting requirements.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Limited opportunities for prisoners to gain accredited qualifications in IT.
Education/Purposeful Activity
The IT curriculum has been reduced, limiting opportunities for learners to progress to higher levels.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Limited provision for higher-level courses.
Board Commentary
Staffing
The new dedicated vetting unit has significantly improved recruitment, reducing background checks from six months to less than three weeks, and staff complement reached 95% this year. The staff cohort has been relatively stable, with a decrease in staff assigned to detached duty. Key worker sessions saw a significant increase to 14,727 this year, though operational reasons still sometimes prevent fulfillment.
Healthcare
Healthcare services are provided by Practice Plus Group, covering primary care, mental health, and pharmacy. While the new vetting unit has accelerated healthcare staff recruitment, significant delays persist in transferring prisoners in urgent need of mental health treatment to secure hospitals, often breaching the 28-day timeframe. The mental health service has otherwise been fully delivered, with most routine referrals addressed promptly, though some patients experience extended waits for hospital beds.
Regime & Daily Life
HMP Wakefield generally provides a fair and humane regime, though the physical condition of residential accommodation concerns the Board, impacting access for prisoners with mobility issues. A significant logistical project for fire safety, lighting, and alarm systems has begun, requiring a temporary population reduction and causing noise that leads to regime curtailment. Purposeful activity remains a concern, with too many prisoners not meaningfully engaged in education or work opportunities, and a three-day lockdown was imposed due to a major incident.
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 | 10 | 18 | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogue(s) | 4 | 3 | |
| Discipline, including adjudications, incentives schemes, sanctions | 5 | 16 | |
| Equality | 1 | 3 | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 5 | 5 | — |
| Food and kitchens | 2 | 6 | |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 12 | 13 | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection restrictions | 6 | 12 | |
| Miscellaneous, including complaints system | 22 | 32 | |
| Property during transfer or in another establishment or location | 2 | 3 | |
| Property within this establishment | 11 | 18 | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, library, regime, time out of cell | 9 | 8 | |
| Sentence management, including HDC (home detention curfew), ROTL (release on temporary licence), parole, release dates, recategorisation | 10 | 3 | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 30 | 30 | — |
| Transfers | 3 | 0 |
Recommendations (7)
Ministry of Justice: 2
HMPPS: 2
Governor / Director: 3
3 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Can the Minister provide the Board with further updates on how the government intends to address longstanding and yet unresolved problems with the assessment and transfer of prisoners who present with serious mental health and personality disorders from HMP Wakefield to hospital (section 47, Mental Health Act 1983)?
Ministry of Justice
Mental Health
Recommendation 2
The Board asks that responses from the Governing Governor are included in the Ministerial reply to this annual report. Whilst we appreciate that this is matter is not unique to Wakefield, it is nevertheless important that the Governing Governor’s reply is made a matter of the public record.
Ministry of Justice
Other
Recommendation 3
How will the Prison Service ensure the safety of staff working in the close supervision centre (Prison Rule 46) and the segregation unit (Prison Rule 45).
HMPPS
Safety
Recommendation 4
Prev. unaddressed
The Board remains dissatisfied with the lack of progress in upgrading the physical infrastructure of the prison. We are monitoring the fire safety upgrade project, but there remains a need to focus investment in buildings that enable a productive regime. The evident lack of investment is creating frustration amongst staff and prisoners, particularly when the consequences lead to regime curtailment. What is the Prison Service’s timeline for addressing this issue?
HMPPS
Estate
Recommendation 5
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Prisoner property: we remain concerned that prisoners do not receive ‘in possession’ property from reception in a timely manner. What action will the Governing Governor take to address this problem? Property delays lead to frustration on the residential wings for prisoners, staff and IMB members alike. This is a repeat request from the Board’s 2022-2023 annual report.
Governor / Director
Other
Recommendation 6
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Purposeful activity: we remain concerned that too many prisoners are not meaningfully engaged in education or work opportunities. What steps is the Governing Governor taking to address this? This is a repeat request from our previous annual reports.
Governor / Director
Purposeful Activity
Recommendation 7
Key work: the Board continues to receive daily updates on the number of recorded key worker sessions from the Governing Governor. We continue to see evidence of improvement in the delivery of key work sessions, but there remain issues with key work not being fulfilled due to operational reasons. How will the Governing Governor continue to drive improvements in key work activity?
Governor / Director
Staffing
Other IMB Reports for Wakefield
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.