Long Lartin inspection report 2025

Summary

Urgent action is required from the prison service to reduce the ingress of drones, some carrying large payloads of illicit items into this Worcestershire, category A prison. With a population of 574, including some very dangerous men, the number of drugs and phones coming into the jail was a serious concern. In our survey, more than 50% of prisoners told us it was easy to get drugs and alcohol, an astonishing rate for a category A prison. The risks are clear for a jail that has, in effect, ceded the airspace above it to serious organised crime. The threat posed by drones was unsettling the staff group and contributing to the low morale and poor staff survey results from this inspection. Levels of violence, in part driven by drugs and the accompanying debt, had risen since our last inspection.

Inspection ratings