Elmley inspection report 2025
Report for Elmley Prison
Summary
National prison population pressures and the ingress of large quantities of drugs carried on drones were affecting outcomes in many areas for prisoners at this busy, Isle of Sheppey, reception prison. Over the last year, the deputy governor had led Elmley after the departure of the previous governor to Wandsworth. She and her team had done well to maintain stability during a time of uncertainty. This was reflected in scores of not sufficiently good in our ‘safety’, ‘respect’ and ‘purposeful activity’ tests which were the same as our last inspection, while ‘preparation for release’ was rated as reasonably good, an improvement on last time. Despite the widespread availability of drugs, in most months, the prison was no longer carrying out suspicion drug testing in response to intelligence. Many of the window guards had been breached, meaning that drones could easily drop off packages to individual cells.