Forest Bank inspection report 2025
Report for Forest Bank Prison
Summary
Holding a population that increasingly consists of remanded or unsentenced prisoners, this category B reception prison in Salford has made progress under an experienced and capable director since our 2022 inspection. The north-west of England has been at the centre of the ongoing prison population crisis and Forest Bank has borne the brunt of much of this challenge, with the churn of prisoners meaning that in one month there were over 2,500 movements. Although some work had begun, there was more leaders needed to do to make provision for the remand and unsentenced population that made up 55% of the jail, many of whom spent long periods at the prison, languishing in small, overcrowded cells. Men on the vulnerable prisoner wing were most likely to suffer because of these pressures, with a more limited work and education offer and greater likelihood of having activities, such as gym sessions, cancelled. An increase from ‘poor’ to ‘not sufficiently good’ in our healthy prison test for purposeful activity reflects the work done in the jail to raise standards of education and improve the regime. Even prisoners in part-time work could get up to eight hours a day unlocked, while unemployed men were unlocked for around 4.5 hours daily, better than at most similar jails.