Garth inspection report 2023
Report for Garth Prison
Summary
A part of the long-term high secure estate, HMP Garth is a category B training establishment located near Leyland in Lancashire. With a capacity for 845 adult men, at the time of our inspection some 790 were in residence, most of them assessed as presenting a high or very high risk of harm and serving lengthy sentences for serious offences. Although Garth is a comparatively modern establishment by HMPPS standards – opening in 1988 – it was already showing its age and seemed to us to be in need of some significant investment and refurbishment. However, nearly every prisoner had their own cell, and their appreciation of this was evidenced by the good condition in which most prisoners kept their accommodation. This was our first return to Garth since 2019, when we reported on a muchimproved prison that was achieving reasonably good outcomes in three of our healthy prison tests. Only in safety was improvement clearly required.