Pentonville independent review of progress 2026
Report for Pentonville Prison
Summary
we found at our last inspection At our previous inspections of HMP Pentonville in 2022 and 2025, we made the following judgements . Figure 1: HMP Pentonville healthy prison outcomes in 2022 and 2025 At our 2025 inspection we found that leaders’ weak oversight was behind the widespread deterioration in outcomes, to the extent that an Urgent Notification (UN) was issued. Large backlogs in sentence calculations led to late releases, first night and induction arrangements were chaotic, and care for those at risk of self‑harm was weak. We observed poor practice when supporting those requiring constant supervision, despite three recent self‑inflicted deaths. Outcomes were further undermined by poor allocation to activity, leaving most prisoners locked in their cells for over 22 hours. Leaders seemed unaware of the weak staff–prisoner relationships we observed, and ageing infrastructure, population pressures and inconsistent residential standards compounded the prison’s problems.