Prison
Cat B, YOI, reception
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Preston
IMB Annual Report 2025 · Published 20 January 2026
HMP/YOI Preston, a Category B reception prison, faces significant challenges due to its aging Victorian infrastructure, leading to inadequate reception facilities and poor cell conditions. Despite commendations for its laundry service and efforts to increase time out of cell, the prison grapples with high violence rates and persistent delays in mental health transfers. The Board highlights recurring issues with property management, the complaints system, and the limited support for remand prisoners, alongside concerns about the impact of staff vacancies on library services.
Positive Findings
The Board commends the continued improvement in the laundry service, which is seen as an impressive addition, and notes successful intercepts of illicit items. Positive feedback was received for the partnership with ACE Project and the Realise Potential Event, supporting resettlement. Education courses show a 96% satisfaction rate, and improvements in reception area staffing and training have led to national best performance in vehicle turnaround.
Key Concerns
Estate/Conditions
Repeated
The fabric of this Victorian prison, including the reception area and the gatehouse, is not fit for purpose, and the offender management unit’s prefabricated structure was condemned 15 years ago. Despite previous responses acknowledging these problems, no apparent progress has been made to address this or secure alternative solutions in the past year.
Safety
Repeated
The physical limitations of the reception area, including lack of space, make it difficult to hold confidential conversations about risk with individuals, an issue repeatedly raised by the Board.
Safety
Lack of space in the first night centre makes it difficult for staff to carry out interviews and screenings for health and risks.
Safety
Levels of violence, particularly involving 18-to-25-year-olds, continued to remain high during the reporting period.
Estate/Conditions
Cells are in a poor state with mould, condensation, broken plaster, and inadequate ventilation, failing to meet modern accommodation standards and the requirements of HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ report, Life in Prison: Living Conditions.
Food/Catering
Repeated
Kitchen and catering issues require constant monitoring despite the best efforts of staff.
Complaints/Property
Repeated
The complaints system, despite improvements, requires constant and close monitoring, as responses rarely meet specified timescales.
Other
Repeated
Cell clearances and transfer of property between prisons remain problematic, leading to significant loss of property and numerous IMB applications, with some issues attributed to staff negligence and pilfering in the new laundry system.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
Delays in providing prisoners with PINs due to public protection sifts impact family relationships, causing ongoing concern for the Board despite acknowledging security importance.
Mental Health
The in-house mental health team (IMHT) is not fully staffed, currently lacking a psychologist or higher assistant psychologist.
Mental Health
Significant waiting times persist for mental health support, and transfers to secure mental health beds under the Mental Health Act frequently exceed the 28-day guideline.
Mental Health
Delays in mental health transfers are exacerbated when the Ministry of Justice does not agree with the proposed security level, withholding movement orders and requiring re-referral.
Resettlement/Release
Difficulties in handing over care to Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) persist, especially for homeless prisoners whom CMHTs often reject due to lack of an address, and due to CMHTs not acknowledging IMHT clinical diagnoses.
Mental Health
Incompatible technological systems between HMP Preston's IMHT and Community Mental Health Teams contribute to delays in securing appropriate care and treatment for vulnerable prisoners.
Education/Purposeful Activity
The death of the librarian and subsequent vacancy has led to reduced opening hours, closures, and significant limits on Storybook Dads sessions, impacting a highly valued service.
Resettlement/Release
Remand prisoners, comprising 80% of the population, do not always receive the same level of support and guidance from Prison Offender Managers (POMs) as sentenced prisoners.
Resettlement/Release
Early release programmes have led to high numbers of prisoners being recalled for short periods due to non-compliance with licence conditions, impacting the prison with increased churn.
Resettlement/Release
Bail information officers have limited impact without a comprehensive network of community support, leading to unnecessary remands in custody.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Prisoners working as orderlies in reception are not consistently given opportunities for exercise in fresh air.
Board Commentary
Staffing
HMP/YOI Preston was allowed to recruit above target establishment, though numbers varied. Increased staffing and training in reception have led to improved performance. The key worker scheme is operating at full capacity and effectively, and the offender management unit (OMU) remains fully staffed.
Healthcare
Healthcare is generally well-managed under the new Practice Plus Group contract, with urgent needs met promptly and GP waiting times managed. However, the in-house mental health team is understaffed, lacking a psychologist. Waiting times for mental health support exist, and transfers to secure mental health beds frequently exceed the 28-day guideline. Challenges persist in handover to community mental health teams for homeless prisoners and due to incompatible IT systems.
Regime & Daily Life
The prison has made significant efforts to increase time out of cell, including an extra evening hour on a rota basis, with impressive daily activity places. However, education and work attendance averages 60%, below the 80% target. The library has faced reduced opening hours and limited Storybook Dads sessions due to staff vacancies, and some orderlies lack fresh air exercise opportunities.
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 | |
| Early release | 9 | 7 | |
| Family contact | 12 | 15 | |
| General/miscellaneous | 41 | 35 | |
| Healthcare | 36 | 31 | |
| Meals/dietary | 15 | 11 | |
| Property | 65 | 67 | |
| Staff conduct | 28 | 22 | |
| Unclassifiable (e.g., incomplete, illegible) | 5 | 3 | |
| Work, education and training | 7 | 10 |
Recommendations (9)
Ministry of Justice: 3
HMPPS: 1
Governor / Director: 5
5 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
The Minister should provide an immediate timeline and budget for starting and completing a major refurbishment or alternative solution for the Victorian prison fabric, reception area, gatehouse, and offender management unit, ensuring specific steps are taken to prevent further delays, given repeated previous concerns and lack of progress.
Ministry of Justice
Estate
Recommendation 2
The Minister should outline strategies to improve community offender management to reduce non-compliance recalls and ensure the prison is not unduly impacted by high recall rates from early release programmes.
Ministry of Justice
Resettlement
Recommendation 3
The Minister should consider re-establishing comprehensive community support services such as bail hostels, bail support schemes, and bail beds to complement bail information officers and reduce unnecessary remands in custody, or specify alternative actions to create such a network.
Ministry of Justice
Resettlement
Recommendation 4
Repeated
The Prison Service should roll out the Lancaster Farms’ staff development pilot project and develop core capability packages.
HMPPS
Staffing
Recommendation 5
Repeated
The Governor should continue to develop the digitalisation of PINs and prisoner applications.
Governor / Director
Regime
Recommendation 6
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
The Governor should outline intentions to improve cell clearance procedures.
Governor / Director
Property
Recommendation 7
The Governor should continue to explore ways of overcoming the lack of space and overcrowding in the first night centre and reception area.
Governor / Director
Estate
Recommendation 8
The Governor should develop new initiatives to provide extra support for young offenders and target disproportionate levels of violence among this group, following the demise of the YOI initiative (Time 4 Change).
Governor / Director
Safety
Recommendation 9
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
The Governor should take steps to ensure the prison provides good quality meals for prisoners with adequate provision for special diets, requiring kitchen equipment to function at optimum level.
Governor / Director
Food