Prison
Cat B/C
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Swansea
IMB Annual Report 2025 · Published 5 March 2026
HMP Swansea operates as a Category B/C prison for men, generally maintaining a safe and stable environment despite an overcrowded Victorian estate and significant prisoner turnover. While healthcare access is timely and education has improved, key challenges include extensive waits for mental health transfers, persistent issues with property complaints, and inconsistent staff practices regarding key working and the use of Body Worn Video Cameras. The Board highlights the need for addressing overcrowding, enhancing support for vulnerable prisoners, and improving transparency in healthcare complaint handling.
Positive Findings
HMP Swansea is generally a safe prison with a stable workforce and good prisoner and staff relationships, resulting in comparatively low levels of self-harm and violence. The catering provision is commendable for its variety and quality within budget. Improvements have been made to the key working model, and the education team has enhanced its service delivery, particularly for those with additional learning needs. The Board notes the positive impact of multi-agency involvement in employment training and strong links established between the prison and local community through projects like the Garden of Remembrance display.
Key Concerns
Mental Health
Repeated
Prisoners with significant mental health needs are being held for lengthy periods, often in segregated conditions, whilst waiting for specialist hospital care.
Estate/Conditions
Repeated
HMP Swansea is constrained by an overcrowded Victorian estate.
Resettlement/Release
Repeated
The pace of prisoner turnover at HMP Swansea creates a challenging environment for maximising efforts to reduce reoffending and secure timely housing and community referrals.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
lack of access to exercise.
Estate/Conditions
Repeated
The long-overdue upgrading of the fire alarm system.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The need to allow prisoners to make applications online, thereby reducing reliance on paper systems and freeing up staff time.
Complaints/Property
Prisoner concerns about delayed transfer or loss of property between prisons.
Equality/Diversity
Inconsistency in the faith-related items available for prisoners to order from catalogue.
Complaints/Property
Repeated
Property has remained the leading area of prisoner complaint for the last three years, with the IMB continuing to receive frequent complaints about missing property.
Staffing
Repeated
Variability in the quality of key working records.
Safety
Repeated
Officers leave their cameras switched off, rendering the pre-record facility unavailable. Some prisoners have also alleged that staff have inflamed incidents through confrontation or an over-zealous response, and that cameras are sometimes only turned on when the prisoner loses their temper and the heated situation boils over to a control-and-restraint event.
Equality/Diversity
Repeated
Raising staff awareness of the impact of limited language ability; and promoting The Big Word for translating important or sensitive information.
Food/Catering
Review meal schedules in order to reduce excessive gaps between meals and improve prisoner satisfaction.
Other
The IMB has consistent access to meeting agendas and minutes from the health partnership forum.
Complaints/Property
All healthcare-related complaints are handled by the local health board, through their internal procedure, and the outcomes are not reported or available to the IMB. We consider this to be a serious weakness in our ability to monitor all services within the prison.
Board Commentary
Staffing
HMP Swansea benefits from a stable workforce with relatively low turnover. However, sickness absence has been above target for much of the reporting period, peaking at 17.43 days in March 2025, posing challenges for meeting key working targets and healthcare provision, particularly during staff holidays and sickness. While communication between staff and prisoners is generally positive, there is room for improvement in the consistent quality of key working records and greater awareness among staff regarding the use of The Big Word for translation.
Healthcare
Healthcare services, provided by Swansea Bay University Health Board, maintain strong links with various community health services and offer timely access to GP, dental, and optician appointments within 4-6 weeks. Despite a significant workload and staffing challenges, the team provides a reliable service, managing external hospital appointments satisfactorily. However, the Board remains concerned about the lengthy waits for mental health inpatient transfers, often leading to acutely unwell prisoners being held in segregated conditions. A significant weakness noted is the lack of transparency, as outcomes of healthcare-related complaints handled by the local health board are not shared with the IMB.
Regime & Daily Life
The largely Victorian estate of HMP Swansea presents ongoing challenges, with most cells designed for single occupancy now housing two prisoners, leading to overcrowding. Prisoners eat meals in their cells due to a lack of communal eating areas, and the early timing of the evening meal creates an excessive gap until breakfast. While exercise provision meets national standards, applications citing a lack of access have increased. The Board also notes that segregation, particularly for those with significant mental health needs, offers a restricted regime with limited purposeful activity.
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 transfers) | 45 | 38 | |
| Complaints | 11 | 9 | |
| Correspondence | 10 | 7 | |
| Discipline | 1 | 2 | |
| Discrimination | 0 | 0 | |
| Diversity/Religion | 1 | 1 | — |
| Food | 2 | 3 | |
| Healthcare/Dentist | 12 | 15 | |
| Legal | 4 | 5 | |
| Other | 23 | 26 | |
| Property | 51 | 56 | |
| Regime | 5 | 4 | |
| Safety | 7 | 6 | |
| Staff Behaviour | 8 | 10 | |
| Total | 183 | 183 | — |
| Work/Pay | 3 | 1 |
Recommendations (14)
Other: 3
HMPPS: 4
Governor / Director: 7
8 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Prisoners with significant mental health needs are being held for lengthy periods, often in segregated conditions, whilst waiting for specialist hospital care. Given that demand for inpatient care appears to exceed healthcare capacity, what specific actions will the Minister take to reduce delays, prevent the use of segregation for acutely unwell prisoners and ensure timely access to appropriate inpatient mental health treatment?
Other
(minister)
Mental Health
Recommendation 1
Repeated
Given that feasibility studies have now been completed, what funding will be available in 2025-2026 for the long-overdue upgrade of the fire alarm system, and when will work start?
HMPPS
Safety
Recommendation 1
Repeated
What actions are being taken to analyse and address the underlying causes of property issues continuing to be a leading source of complaint?
Governor / Director
Complaints
Recommendation 2
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
HMP Swansea is constrained by an overcrowded Victorian estate. What actions will the Minister take to reduce overcrowding and improve the physical environment, particularly in respect of the double occupancy of cells originally designed for one?
Other
(minister)
Estate
Recommendation 2
What plans and timescales are in place to introduce the information technology at HMP Swansea needed to allow prisoners to make applications online, thereby reducing reliance on paper systems and freeing up staff time?
HMPPS
Regime
Recommendation 2
If the ‘Spend to Save’ pilot for maintaining tenancies is shown to be effective, what plans are in place to extend the scheme to local authority partners not yet participating?
Governor / Director
Resettlement
Recommendation 3
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Following the Independent Review of Sentencing, what specific reductions in prisoner numbers does the Minister anticipate at HMP Swansea, and how will sentencing reforms address the ongoing pressures caused by high prisoner turnover and short custody periods?
Other
(minister)
Resettlement
Recommendation 3
How are prisoner concerns about delayed transfer or loss of property between prisons being addressed, as this is a common complaint on prisoner transfer?
HMPPS
Complaints
Recommendation 3
In addition to acting on the twice-yearly catering survey findings, what scope is there to review meal schedules in order to reduce excessive gaps between meals and improve prisoner satisfaction?
Governor / Director
Food
Recommendation 4
How is the Prison Service ensuring access for prisoners to purchase prescribed items, including faith-related ones, across different supplier contracts?
HMPPS
Equality
Recommendation 4
How will the Governor ensure that the IMB has consistent access to meeting agendas and minutes from the health partnership forum?
Governor / Director
Healthcare
Recommendation 12
Repeated
Achieving key working session targets and consistent quality standards?
Governor / Director
Staffing
Recommendation 13
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Ensuring greater use of BWVCs, and the pre-record function in particular?
Governor / Director
Safety
Recommendation 14
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Raising staff awareness of the impact of limited language ability; and promoting The Big Word for translating important or sensitive information?
Governor / Director
Equality
Other IMB Reports for Swansea
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
21 Feb 2023
Unannounced
Safety: 4
Respect: 3
Activity: 2
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.