Cardiff inspection report 2024

Summary

Cardiff is a category B reception and resettlement prison, which at the time of our inspection, was holding 737 prisoners. It had a significant remand and unsentenced population and many prisoners were recalled, which contributed to a rapid turnover of population. Men were held in a mix of accommodation types: some of these dated from the early 19th century, while others were added in the late 1990s. The location, character and structure of the prison, as well as the operational challenges it faced, meant Cardiff was a frontline institution, receiving men from the streets and managing considerable day-to-day risk. It is all the more pleasing therefore, to report that, despite these challenges, Cardiff was doing significantly better than comparable institutions. We last inspected the prison in 2019, when we reported outcomes that were reasonably good or better in all of our healthy prison tests.

Inspection ratings