Bristol inspection report 2023
Report for Bristol Prison
Summary
HMP Bristol is a category B reception prison holding up to 580 adult men, although the roll was slightly reduced at the time of our inspection. Situated in an inner-city location, the prison serves the local courts, receiving prisoners from the community, and many returned repeatedly to the institution. Many of those we met were unconvicted or unsentenced prisoners, with nearly a third presenting with substance misuse issues and a fifth in need of mental health assessments. Following this inspection of the prison, I wrote to the Secretary of State invoking the Urgent Notification (UN) process on 28 July 2023. In that letter, and in the inspection debriefing paper that accompanied it (both published with this report at www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons), I set out my concerns and the judgements that had caused me to follow that course of action. Under the UN protocol, the Secretary of State commits to respond publicly to my letter within 28 days, explaining how outcomes for those detained will be improved.