Prison
Cat D open
Key Concerns Identified
Positive Findings
Leyhill
IMB Annual Report 2025 · Published 29 July 2025
HMP Leyhill, a Category D open prison, is undergoing significant expansion to increase its operational capacity. While the IMB commends its focus on prisoner safety, humane treatment, and efforts in education and resettlement, it raises concerns regarding delayed parole for IPP prisoners, the lack of approved premises, and persistent issues with unreliable telephony. The Board emphasizes the need to maintain current standards during the expansion and address staffing and property transfer challenges.
Positive Findings
The Board commends Leyhill's focus on prisoner safety, humane treatment, and support for vulnerable individuals, including through the Listener scheme and family days. Healthcare waiting times are generally acceptable, with positive prisoner feedback. The new strategy for education, skills, and work, alongside purposeful activity like market gardens and recycling, is improving employability. Progress has been made in streamlining ROTL processes, enhancing OMU communications, and improving disabled access and phone privacy in some units.
Key Concerns
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Repeated
Delay in the mobile phone pilot scheme.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Lack of access to communication devices equivalent to those in the closed estate to maintain family contact.
Resettlement/Release
Lack of spaces in approved premises, leading to some prisoners facing incarceration beyond their release dates and delays in progression towards parole eligibility.
Food/Catering
Food budget not raised in line with inflation.
Regime/Time Out of Cell
Unreliability and regular failures of installed BT PIN phones.
Resettlement/Release
Delays in release and resettlement of IPP prisoners, many of whom have spent far longer in custody than recommended.
Resettlement/Release
Inefficiency and increased workload of Community Offender Managers (COMs) in the external Probation Service due to early release schemes.
Staffing
Need to increase facilities and staffing levels proportionally to the proposed rise in operational capacity.
Education/Purposeful Activity
Need to expand opportunities for prisoners to gain external work experience and qualifications through national engagement.
Resettlement/Release
Poor accessibility of transport hindering prisoners from gaining work experience.
Other
Failure to consistently apply volumetric limits defined in the Prisoners’ Property Policy Framework at all establishments, causing problems with prisoner property during transfer.
Safety
Increasing complaints involving intimidation and bullying of vulnerable prisoners, linked to changing demographics.
Safety
Delay in providing an emergency call bell system in wings for less able and elderly prisoners.
Substance Misuse
ISFL drug testing failing to reflect local drugs of choice (Subutex and ketamine).
Board Commentary
Staffing
Efforts to implement the personal officer scheme have shown mixed results, though interaction rates improved to 84% towards year-end. Many staff, particularly the chaplaincy team, demonstrate caring behaviour towards vulnerable prisoners. However, the Board noted a minority of officers remain in offices rather than patrolling, impacting relationships and engagement. Staff have coped well with increased workloads due to early release schemes.
Healthcare
Healthcare services, provided by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, mirror community provisions, and the Board has no overall concerns, despite late prisoner arrivals sometimes delaying inductions. Mental health services support a caseload of 60-70 patients, with a new wellbeing hub planned. While some allied health waiting times fluctuate, dental and audiology services have acceptable waits. Complaints are low, but medication and GP service dissatisfaction are recurring themes.
Regime & Daily Life
Leyhill is undergoing significant estate expansion with temporary units, refurbishment of Cedar 1, and plans for rapid deployment cells and new residential units to increase capacity to 825. Exercise opportunities are extensive, benefiting from outdoor spaces. However, the regime is hampered by persistent issues with unreliable BT phones and a lack of phones in Cedar 4, leading to frustration. A proposed mobile phone pilot remains stalled, which the Board finds unacceptable, impacting prisoner contact with families. The provision of induction cookers has been popular, allowing more prisoners to cook for themselves.
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 | |
| Discipline | 1 | 0 | |
| Family Contact | 11 | 9 | |
| Finance | 2 | 3 | |
| Food | 4 | 2 | |
| Healthcare | 21 | 24 | |
| Legal | 6 | 4 | |
| Other | 16 | 13 | |
| Property | 30 | 30 | — |
| Safety | 0 | 0 | |
| Segregation/Care & Separation | 2 | 0 | |
| Sentence progression | 5 | 2 | |
| Staff conduct | 14 | 12 | |
| Total | 165 | 135 | |
| Visits | 1 | 0 | |
| Work/Education | 7 | 8 |
Recommendations (15)
Ministry of Justice: 4
HMPPS: 8
Governor / Director: 3
1 repeated
Recommendation 1
Repeated
The Minister ensure that the mobile phone pilot scheme referenced in the annex of the Ministerial response to the 2023-2024 annual report will take place and will not be subject to further delays.
Ministry of Justice
Regime
Recommendation 2
The Minister take action to ensure that Leyhill prisoners receive access to communication devices equivalent to those available in the majority of the closed estate in order to maintain contact with family members.
Ministry of Justice
Regime
Recommendation 3
The Minister take action to remedy the lack of spaces in approved premises, which leads to some prisoners facing incarceration beyond their release dates and many experiencing delays in progression towards their eligibility for parole.
Ministry of Justice
Resettlement
Recommendation 4
The Minister take action to raise the food budget in line with inflation.
Ministry of Justice
Food
Recommendation 5
The Prison Service urgently review the availability of PIN phones to prisoners and seek to improve the system and reliability.
HMPPS
Regime
Recommendation 6
Further action be taken to speed up the release and resettlement in the community of prisoners serving IPP sentences, many of whom have spent far longer in custody than recommended in their indicative tariffs.
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 7
Steps be taken to speed up the work and enhance the efficiency of the community offender managers (COMs) in the external Probation Service, whose workload has increased significantly due to the implementation of the various early release schemes.
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 8
The Prison Service provide equivalent telephony to that provided in the majority of the closed estate.
HMPPS
Regime
Recommendation 9
The Prison Service increase facilities and staffing levels in proportion to the proposed rise in operational capacity.
HMPPS
Staffing
Recommendation 10
The Prison Service seek to expand the opportunities through national engagement for prisoners to gain work experience and qualifications in preparation for release.
HMPPS
Education
Recommendation 11
Steps be taken to improve the accessibility of transport to enable prisoners to gain work experience.
HMPPS
Resettlement
Recommendation 12
The Prison Service apply the volumetric limits defined in the Prisoners’ Property Policy Framework at all establishments in order to alleviate some of the problems encountered with prisoner property during transfer.
HMPPS
Other
Recommendation 13
The Board encourages the Governor to build on the continued improvements made in the ROTL process.
Governor / Director
Resettlement
Recommendation 14
The Board urges the Governor to maintain the current standards at Leyhill in the forthcoming refurbishment, upgrade of facilities, challenging expansion project and installation of rapid deployment cells.
Governor / Director
Estate
Recommendation 15
The Board encourages the Governor to continue to prioritise increasing the number of prisoners gaining external work experience over some of the work done within the prison grounds.
Governor / Director
Education
Other IMB Reports for Leyhill
HMIP Inspections
Recent inspections by HM Inspectorate of Prisons for this establishment.
12 Jun 2023
Unannounced
Safety: 4
Respect: 4
Activity: 1
Release: 3
PPO Fatal Incidents
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman fatal incident investigations for this establishment.