Prison
Cat B
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Garth
IMB Annual Report 2025 · Published 30 April 2026
HMP Garth is a category B secure training prison that accommodates long-term prisoners who pose significant risk but do not meet the criteria for the highest risk category. The IMB reports on several key issues including safety concerns related to self-harm, violence, illicit items and staffing. Accommodation and facilities are also continuing to deteriorate due to lack of funding.
Positive Findings
The reduction in the number of less experienced officers is a positive development. HMIP inspectors were pleased to note improvements in overall cleanliness. A new workshop has been opened, providing skills in upholstery. During the final three months of the reporting year, changes to the regime resulted in prisoners having increased time out of cell, and the enforcement of attendance at work and training has led to good progress and noticeable improvement, although issues with punctuality remain.
Key Concerns
Safety
Repeated
Self-harm, the use of assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) plans (to support prisoners at risk of self-harm and suicide) and the need for the constant supervision of vulnerable prisoners have all remained at similar levels to those noted in our previous report. Unfortunately, the number of deaths in custody has also stayed the same, at five.
Safety
Violence between prisoners and against officers has remained high, with several serious incidents during the reporting year.
Safety
The incursion of illicit items, particularly via drones, continues to be high, with more sophisticated drones and handler strategies being seen.
Substance Misuse
More prisoners are testing positive for drugs. Regular and random drug tests are carried out, and a significant number of prisoners are continuing to test positive.
Staffing
Staffing remains a concern. Although there is an increase in the number of officers with two or more years’ service, high levels of sickness and restricted duties reduce the staff available to deliver the regime. This also increases cross-deployment which, in turn, affects prisoners and staff relationships.
Estate/Conditions
Accommodation and facilities are continuing to deteriorate due to lack of funding.
Mental Health
The CSU continues to frequently holds prisoners with extremely complex needs, some of whom remain there for exceptionally long periods. This is primarily due to delays in securing a place in a specialist unit or hospital.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
The hearing and resolving of adjudications (disciplinary hearings when a prisoner is alleged to have broken prison rules) remain an issue, with a renewed cycle of large numbers building up in the backlog.
Complaints/Property
The number of complaints within the HMP Garth system continues to rise. In the reporting year, it increased to 2,838 (from 2,521 last year), with only 59% of complaints answered within the agreed timescales.
Other
The Board remains concerned about prisoners’ missing, lost or backlogged property, which continues to cause unnecessary distress for prisoners and their families.
Mental Health
The mental health team continues to be overburdened with the continuing number of referrals. This has resulted in some segregation reviews proceeding without input from a health or psychology professional.
Resettlement/Release
Repeated
As in past years, the Board remains concerned about IPP (imprisonment for public protection) prisoners, particularly in relation to providing effective pathways for their eventual release.
Estate/Conditions
There is also a conflict arising from the contract mechanism regarding how works are identified. The Amey site manager reports that they cannot log works on Planet FM, as this could be viewed as ‘making work for themselves’; however, it is unclear how prison officers are expected to take responsibility for reporting all structural defects in an area outside their expertise.
Food/Catering
Despite the challenges of low budget, the kitchens have a five-star food hygiene rating from environmental health inspections and were awarded a Gold Recipe for Health Award by Lancashire County Council; Garth is the first establishment in the northwest to achieve the bronze, silver and gold merits for this award.
Education/Purposeful Activity
National vocational qualifications (NVQs) are available in catering and industrial cleaning.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Staffing remains a concern. Although there is an increase in the number of officers with two or more years’ service, high levels of sickness and restricted duties reduce the staff available to deliver the regime. This also increases cross-deployment which, in turn, affects prisoners and staff relationships. A proportion of officers (40-50%) continue to be reluctant to use body worn video cameras.
Healthcare
There was a change in the healthcare provider in April 2025, and the transition did not go smoothly. Staff vacancies took time to fill, and both a new concerns and complaints system and new IT procedures had to be learned by staff. Applications to IMB about health increased by 10% in the reporting year compared with the previous period in review, especially in relation to medication availability and access to appointments.
Regime & Daily Life
The regime has been adjusted to increase prisoners’ participation in education, work and skills, and to provide more time for domestic activities, particularly in the afternoon. The regime has been more consistent this year, with better advance notice of changes when staffing issues arise. This has had a positive impact, as prisoners appear more settled within their environment.
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 | 21 | 17 | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogues | 15 | 15 | — |
| Discipline, including adjudications, incentives scheme, sanctions | 24 | 4 | |
| Equality | 3 | 9 | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 44 | 25 | |
| Food and kitchens | 6 | 4 | |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 46 | 39 | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection, restrictions | 33 | 21 | |
| Property during transfer or in another facility | 48 | 33 | |
| Property within the establishment | 85 | 65 | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, time out of cell | 11 | 6 | |
| Sentence management, including HDC (home detention curfew), ROTL (release on temporary licence), parole, release dates, re-categorisation | 11 | 27 | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns, including bullying | 107 | 123 | |
| Transfers | 5 | 1 |
Recommendations (9)
Ministry of Justice: 3
HMPPS: 3
Governor / Director: 3
1 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
As raised in last year’s report, indeterminate sentences for IPP prisoners remain an unresolved and pressing issue. It continues to be a significant problem for IPP prisoners who have either never been released or who have been recalled. At the end of November 2025, the number of IPP prisoners had fallen from 39 (in the last reporting period) to 37. However, the number fluctuates almost monthly as prisoners are moved around the estate. The problems created by the sentence and the release process are well understood, but the very injustice of this sentence continues to be ignored by the Government. What specific actions will the Government take this year to set out a clear plan for resolving the cases of people still serving IPP sentences or those who have been recalled?
Ministry of Justice
Resettlement
Recommendation 2
What funding improvements will be made to address the deterioration of facilities and ensure that preventative maintenance is carried out rather than only funding critical or emergency repairs?
Ministry of Justice
estate
Recommendation 3
What additional funding will be provided to prevent illicit items entering the prison, given their impact on stability and safety?
Ministry of Justice
Safety
Recommendation 4
How will the issue of insufficient staffing, needed to maintain a stable regime and support effective prisoner and staff relationships, be reviewed to improve retention and ensure adequate cover for staff absence and, ultimately, deliver better outcomes for prisoners?
HMPPS
staffing
Recommendation 5
How will the Prison Service review the long-term segregation of prisoners who need a different secure environment? Holding them in segregated cells leads to deterioration in their mental state and places unsustainable pressure on the CSU staff, who are containing them but are not trained to meet their healthcare or behavioural needs.
HMPPS
mental_health
Recommendation 6
How will the access needs of an ageing prison population be addressed? HMP Garth is almost inaccessible for disabled or more infirm prisoners, which restricts their ability to obtain food, healthcare and basic social interaction.
HMPPS
Equality
Recommendation 7
How will the cyclic peaks and troughs in the adjudication backlog be addressed at their root cause? Without a robust deterrent system, poor behaviour in the prison is likely to remain high.
Governor / Director
regime
Recommendation 8
There have been some improvements to prisoner property processes during the reporting year. What further steps will be taken to reduce lost and missing items and improve the compensation process, which often leaves prisoners out of pocket through no fault of their own?
Governor / Director
other
Recommendation 9
How do you plan to encourage staff to use body worn video cameras consistently and ensure they are operated during incidents?
Governor / Director
Safety
Other IMB Reports for Garth
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
29 Jul 2024
Unannounced
Safety: 2
Respect: 2
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.