High Down inspection report 2026
Report for High Down Prison
Summary
we found a quarter of men behind their doors. The offer for purposeful activity was better with some popular, employment-focused courses run by Railtrack and XO bikes. Standards of teaching had improved, but attendance at education was still poor and the prison needed to continue to focus on making sure a much higher proportion of men attended. Leaders had encouraged staff to develop an impressive range of enrichment activities which encouraged prisoners to come out of their cells and participate. The offender management unit was understaffed, which meant that support was limited to prisoners approaching a key sentence milestone. This was a major cause of frustration for those who wished to reduce their risk or be recategorised to open prisons. There was a particular bottleneck for those who were required to undertake the building choices programme, the allocations to which were at times chaotic, and there were not enough spaces for the size of the population. The experienced and effective governor had established a strong leadership team which was driving forward improvement. However, the use of data in some areas was not good enough. This was particularly so in fair treatment and safety, where leaders would benefit from the way in which target setting and monitoring works in the most successful jails.