Leeds inspection report 2022
Report for Leeds Prison
Summary
HMP Leeds is reception and resettlement prison located near to the city centre and holding just under 1100 adult men. Facing many of the operational challenges that are consistent with its ‘front-line’ responsibilities, the prison receives into custody about 388 new prisoners every month and releases back into the community approximately 172. The population comprises a mixture of remand and sentenced prisoners, the latter of which reflected the full range of sentences up to and including indeterminate sentenced men. The old Victorian prison has a forbidding reputation and on first impression conforms to this characterful history. But this is not actually representative; despite the prison’s age, on this visit we were impressed by the excellent environmental standards, cleanliness, and positive feel of both the external grounds and the built environment, all of which were indicative of energy, confidence, and potential. It is important that this potential and the optimism it encourages is reflected in the prisoner experience by, for example, making improvements to the day-to-day regime, more time out of cell, and a greater and more consistent delivery of purposeful activity.