Nottingham inspection report 2024

Summary

There were 924 prisoners at this busy East Midlands reception jail at the time of inspection. Nottingham is a prison that has had many challenges over the years, so it was encouraging to find stability provided by an experienced and capable governor and his team. With an enormous churn of prisoners, including those coming from as far away as North Yorkshire and County Durham, the prison was operating under considerable strain with constant pressure to accommodate new arrivals, move sentenced prisoners on and operate the early release scheme (ECSL) which was now on its 18th version since it had been introduced at the end of 2023. Levels of violence were high, particularly assaults between prisoners. These were partly fuelled by the ingress of drugs which, although not present to the degree that we see in some prisons, were nevertheless too freely available. The prison contained a complex population, many of whom had mental health difficulties.

Inspection ratings