Parc inspection report 2025

Summary

While this report exposes a serious deterioration in standards at this large category C prison in South Wales, it also highlights some more positive, early signs of recovery under the determined leadership of the director, who was appointed in June 2024. For many years Parc had been one of the most successful prisons in England and Wales, with a population of more than 1,600 men, with high levels of mental health difficulties and addiction to drugs or alcohol. At our last inspection in 2022, the prison was rated reasonably good in our tests for ‘safety’, ‘respect’ and ‘rehabilitation and release planning’, and good for ‘purposeful activity’. The highly effective and longstanding governor and her well-respected deputy had both retired at the same time as the contract to run the prison had transferred to a new provider. The replacement governor did not stay for long and the leadership team was less stable than it had been. Staff turnover also increased and the prison began to struggle to fill vacancies.

Inspection ratings