Winchester inspection report 2025
Report for Winchester Prison
Summary
Built in the mid-nineteenth century, Winchester is a category B reception prison capable of holding up to 649 adult male prisoners from across southern England. While the population was made up of mostly remanded or newly convicted individuals, 129 were longer-term category C prisoners held on adjacent wings known as the West Hill and Hearn units. This is the fourth time we have inspected Winchester since 2016, and it continues to be a persistently underachieving prison. At this inspection, it received our lowest healthy prison assessment in three of our four tests – safety, respect, and purposeful activity – with many of the concerns raised at our last inspection in 2022 still to be addressed. There was evidence that outcomes had deteriorated even further in many critical areas and this led me to write to the Secretary of State to invoke our Urgent Notification protocol. The prison was unsafe.