Prison
Cat B local
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Pentonville
IMB Annual Report 2025 · Published 2 October 2025
HMP Pentonville, a category B local prison, faced significant challenges including severe overcrowding, crumbling infrastructure, and a rise in drug use. While some improvements were noted in safety management, the Board raised serious concerns about inhumane living conditions, inadequate key work provision, and delays in support for vulnerable prisoners. The report highlights the impact of capacity pressures on regime delivery and resettlement efforts, stressing the need for urgent investment in the prison's fabric and resources.
Positive Findings
The Board noted improvements in safety management and welcomed the increased focus on violence reduction. The successful relocation of vulnerable prisoners to a dedicated wing was a positive outcome. Monthly meetings for IPP and lifers provided valuable support. There was an increase in body worn video camera footage for use of force incidents, and new arrangements were put in place to address healthcare complaints. Pentonville also had the shortest mental health transfer waiting times and the highest transfer numbers to secure units in London.
Key Concerns
Safety
First-night cells were often lacking basic equipment, such as pillows and kettles, and prisoners were not always given a welfare call on their first night in the prison.
Safety
Repeated
Accurate completion of assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) documents (used to support prisoners who are at risk of self-harm or suicide) remains an issue, as reported last year, and the Board maintains its view that the documentation is over-complicated and illogically set out and that it should be revised.
Mental Health
There was an insufficient number of Listeners (prisoners trained by the Samaritans to provide confidential emotional support to fellow prisoners) in the prison over most of the reporting year. This was largely down to the fact that, at times during the year, Listeners could not be put on hold and kept at Pentonville due to capacity pressures in the prison estate nationally.
Estate/Conditions
The crumbling fabric of the prison and poor conditions remain a serious concern to the Board. The building is susceptible to continual infestations of rats, mice, cockroaches and flies, and cells being taken out of use increases overcrowding. In addition to the potential health hazard of living with vermin, two men share cramped and sometimes damp cells built for single occupancy. These conditions are not decent or humane.
Estate/Conditions
The Board was particularly concerned about the condition of the cells in the care and separation unit, or CSU, where men are segregated, some of which have damp walls and frequently blocked drains.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Only minimal levels of key work took place, with no proper system for allocating key workers or for monitoring the number of sessions.
Equality/Diversity
Pentonville remains a completely unsuitable environment for prisoners with mobility issues.
Estate/Conditions
it was very disappointing that, due to damage to the flooring because of an undetected leak, the mosque remained out of use.
Other
Repeated
The system for transfer of prisoner property between prisons remained unfit for purpose, with prisoners often having to wait weeks or months for their belongings to arrive, and property sometimes being lost altogether.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
with structured wing activity (SWA) happening only once a day, some prisoners were still locked up for 22 hours a day or more.
Mental Health
A lack of beds in the secure mental hospitals meant that some very unwell prisoners remained in Pentonville awaiting a place, either on the in-patient unit, or sometimes on the wings or in the CSU.
Mental Health
The wellbeing centre continued to be an underused resource. This is regrettable, as Board members were frequently told by prisoners who attended the centre how beneficial they felt it was for their wellbeing.
Resettlement/Release
Government-imposed measures to reduce prison overcrowding continued to have an impact on the offender management unit’s (OMU) ability to fulfil its remit. The additional work involved in these initiatives reduced the time available for the team to complete its day-to-day work, causing much anxiety and frustration for prisoners.
Resettlement/Release
Immediate releases from court, due to long periods spent on remand, as well as transfers occurring during the last 12 weeks of sentence due to national population pressures, meant that some prisoners missed out on important pre-release support.
Substance Misuse
The Board was concerned by an increase in the availability and use of new psychotic substances (NPS), often resulting in medical emergencies.
Board Commentary
Staffing
The safer custody team experienced staff shortages for much of the year, though new leadership and increased staffing were introduced later. An increase of seven staff members focused on violence reduction. However, staff redeployments impacted several areas, including the equality team and the ability to offer daily exercise in the CSU. Healthcare management was stretched due to key staff secondments and a national shortage of pharmacy technicians. Less experienced officers sometimes provided cursory treatment, though the new Pentonville Academy aims to foster positive staff-prisoner relations.
Healthcare
Healthcare provision in the in-patient unit was generally satisfactory, with medical staff and officers described as sensitive and effective. Mental health services were well staffed, though key management were stretched due to secondments and a national shortage of pharmacy technicians. A lack of beds in secure mental hospitals meant unwell prisoners faced delays in transfer, despite Pentonville having the shortest waiting times and highest transfer numbers in London. The 'Call Phill' helpline proved effective for relatives, and new processes were introduced to improve healthcare complaint responses.
Regime & Daily Life
Structured wing activity (SWA) was offered only once a day, leading to some prisoners being locked up for 22 hours or more. The vulnerable prisoners unit (VPU) saw an improved regime with more activities and association time, though opportunities remained limited, and new VPs faced significant delays in induction. The wellbeing centre, despite its benefits for attendees, remained an underused resource due to unreliable unlocking and escorting. Efforts were made to increase attendance at activity sessions, which helped increase education and training 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) | 110 | 183 | |
| Adjudications | 17 | 21 | |
| Discrimination | 8 | 11 | |
| Family issues (including contact) | 58 | 72 | |
| Food | 3 | 5 | |
| Healthcare | 158 | 158 | — |
| Other | 125 | 150 | |
| Progression (including sentence planning) | 10 | 15 | |
| Property (including transfers) | 110 | 183 | |
| Regime (including purposeful activity) | 10 | 14 | |
| Release on temporary licence | 23 | 27 | |
| Rule 39 (legal correspondence) | 22 | 25 | |
| Safety | 11 | 15 | |
| Segregation | 12 | 10 | |
| Total applications | 689 | 946 |
Recommendations (12)
Ministry of Justice: 2
HMPPS: 5
Governor / Director: 5
2 repeated
Recommendation 1
The crumbling state of Pentonville remains a serious concern to the Board. The conditions in which prisoners must live are inhumane and contribute to mental health issues, self-harm and violence. Will the Minister commit to providing additional financial resources to HMPPS to enable urgent improvements to the fabric of the prison, and if so, when?
Ministry of Justice
Estate
Recommendation 2
When will the Minister provide adequate financial resources to HMPPS to enable offender management units to cope with the extra work involved in implementing initiatives aimed at reducing the prison population, as well as fulfil their day-to-day responsibilities?
Ministry of Justice
Resettlement
Recommendation 3
How will HMPPS ensure that, following the end of the maintenance contract with GFSL, robust contract arrangements will be put in place to ensure that repairs are done in a timely manner and that there are penalties for poor performance?
HMPPS
Estate
Recommendation 4
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
The transfer of property between prisons remains chaotic and the 2022 Prisoners’ Property Policy Framework has made no noticeable difference. When will this dysfunctional system be overhauled?
HMPPS
Other
Recommendation 5
Repeated
Prev. unaddressed
The ACCT documentation (revised in 2022) remains overly complicated and cumbersome. When will HMPPS revise this essential documentation, given its potentially life-saving importance?
HMPPS
Safety
Recommendation 6
What will HMPPS do to create more spaces in the estate for prisoners convicted of sexual offences so that they can move on from unsuitable prisons such as Pentonville and start offending-behaviour courses?
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 7
What will HMPPS do to support the Governor to stem the flow of drugs, especially NPS, into Pentonville, which could include, for example, increased perimeter security and anti-drone systems?
HMPPS
Substance Misuse
Recommendation 8
What additional measures will you take to ensure that all officers wear their body worn video cameras and use them in the event of an incident, in particular where force is used?
Governor / Director
Safety
Recommendation 9
What will you do to ensure that a robust system is put in place to ensure that every prisoner arriving at Pentonville has a clean, fully equipped cell, a welfare call and a meaningful induction?
Governor / Director
Regime
Recommendation 10
How will you implement a system for ensuring that, at a minimum, those prisoners deemed most in need of one will be allocated a key worker, and that the amount and quality of key work is monitored?
Governor / Director
Regime
Recommendation 11
What will you do to increase utilisation of the wellbeing centre, which has such a beneficial impact on many of the prisoners who attend it?
Governor / Director
Mental Health
Recommendation 12
How will you ensure that maintenance issues are recorded and fixed in a timely manner?
Governor / Director
Estate
Other IMB Reports for Pentonville
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
16 Mar 2026
IRP
16 Jul 2025
Urgent Notification
30 Jun 2025
Unannounced
11 Apr 2023
IRP
11 Jul 2022
Unannounced
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.