Prison
Cat Open, Women's YOI
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Askham Grange
IMB Annual Report 2025 · Published 30 January 2026
HMP/YOI Askham Grange is a safe and well-run open prison for women, with strong staff-prisoner relationships and a focus on rehabilitation and resettlement. The Board commends the high standards in education and key worker engagement, as well as the positive regime and family support. Key concerns include the impact of short sentences on resettlement outcomes, the lack of progress in enhancing sexual and domestic violence support services, and challenges in securing external neurodiversity support. The Board also noted that employment on release targets were not being met.
Positive Findings
HMP/YOI Askham Grange remains a safe place for prisoners and staff, with no reported incidents of serious violence or self-harm. Staff/prisoner relationships are excellent, with staff showing a deep knowledge of each prisoner to prevent issues. The Board commends the prison for striving to treat prisoners and staff with dignity and respect, meeting key worker targets, and maintaining family ties through visits and ROTL. Prisoners have access to a healthy lifestyle, and education/skills courses boast high success rates (95% 2024/5). The well-stocked library is actively used, and the IMB notes effective information sharing across departments.
Key Concerns
Resettlement/Release
Short sentences of imprisonment can have a significant and often negative effect on women in terms of accommodation, family ties, employment and mental health, so any initiative to divert women from custody where appropriate is welcomed. Is there evidence to show that the recommendations of the Independent Review of Sentencing have reduced the number of women being sentenced to short periods of imprisonment?
Healthcare
Repeated
Responding to concerns raised in our last annual report regarding sexual and domestic violence support services, it was suggested that additional funding was being sought to enhance access to local providers of this service. The IMB are unaware of any change to this situation so would HMPPS be able to say if there has there been any progress on this matter?
Resettlement/Release
Repeated
A continuing concern is that some prisoners are coming to open conditions with very little time left on their sentence and consequently, they are unable to take advantage of work/educational opportunities on offer.
Mental Health
Repeated
The biggest challenge was, and continues to be, securing external support for neurodiversity as it seems to be something of a ‘postcode lottery’ as to what may be available.
Resettlement/Release
In the reporting period, of the 127 prisoners released, 31 (42.47%) were in paid employment after six weeks, 42 were not and 54 were women with responsibilities for children under five years or they were classed as carers for others. The delivery requirement is 48.71% and so there is some work to do here.
Board Commentary
Staffing
Staff/prisoner relationships are excellent due to the relatively small number of prisoners and the dedication of staff, enabling effective prevention of problems. Key worker compliance is high at 96%. The prison experienced an unsettled period with changes in Governor and Deputy Governor roles, but disruption to daily operations was minimal. In healthcare, staffing was deemed 55 hours short, and proposals for full-time clinical lead and Band 5 nurse posts were not approved, leading to reliance on overtime and shared staff with HMP New Hall. AMEY, responsible for maintenance, has experienced staffing issues, but work has generally been completed within a reasonable timeframe.
Healthcare
Healthcare feedback and complaint forms were more visible this year, with concerns typically resolved in three to five days. While no formal IMB complaints were received, informal grumbles about queuing for appointments occurred. Staffing in healthcare was identified as 55 hours short, with proposals for increased hours not approved, leading to reliance on overtime and shared staff. Mental health services saw 73 routine and 11 urgent referrals, but short sentences and rapid turnover limit therapeutic work. A significant challenge remains in securing external support for neurodiversity, which is described as a 'postcode lottery'.
Regime & Daily Life
The overriding ethos of Askham Grange is resettlement and preparation for community return. All prisoners are required to work within the prison before accessing external community work, with some able to move into paid employment. A continuing concern is that many prisoners arrive with little time left to serve, limiting their ability to fully utilize work and educational opportunities. The library encourages reading through various initiatives, and vocational courses are offered, though prisoners often prefer hospitality or retail sector roles for external employment. Key worker sessions are highly compliant at 96%.
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 | 0 | |
| Canteen, facility list, catalogues | 0 | 0 | |
| Discipline, including adjudications, incentives scheme, sanctions | 1 | 1 | — |
| Equality | 0 | 2 | |
| Finance, including pay, private monies, spends | 0 | 0 | |
| Food and kitchens | 1 | 0 | |
| Health, including physical, mental, social care | 0 | 0 | |
| Letters, visits, telephones, public protection, restrictions | 0 | 3 | |
| Miscellaneous | 1 | 0 | |
| Property during transfer or in another facility | 0 | 1 | |
| Property within the establishment | 0 | 0 | |
| Purposeful activity, including education, work, training, time out of cell | 1 | 1 | — |
| Sentence management, including HDC (home detention curfew), ROTL (release on temporary licence), parole, release dates, recategorisation | 6 | 3 | |
| Staff/prisoner concerns including bullying | 8 | 2 | |
| Transfers | 0 | 1 |
Recommendations (3)
Ministry of Justice: 1
HMPPS: 1
Governor / Director: 1
1 repeated
Recommendation 1
Short sentences of imprisonment can have a significant and often negative effect on women in terms of accommodation, family ties, employment and mental health, so any initiative to divert women from custody where appropriate is welcomed. Is there evidence to show that the recommendations of the Independent Review of Sentencing have reduced the number of women being sentenced to short periods of imprisonment?
Ministry of Justice
Resettlement
Recommendation 2
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
Responding to concerns raised in our last annual report regarding sexual and domestic violence support services, it was suggested that additional funding was being sought to enhance access to local providers of this service. The IMB are unaware of any change to this situation so would HMPPS be able to say if there has there been any progress on this matter?
HMPPS
Healthcare
Recommendation 3
The Board looks forward to seeing what new developments there may be to ensure that prisoners get the best experience whilst at HMP/YOI Askham Grange to reduce re-offending and have a successful resettlement in the community on release.
Governor / Director
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.