Wormwood Scrubs inspection report 2025
Report for Wormwood Scrubs Prison
Summary
Inspectors visited this high-profile, overcrowded London prison during a June heatwave. When we last visited, the prison was emerging from the restrictions imposed by Covid. This time, although inspectors identified many positives, they found that the healthy prison score for safety had fallen from reasonably good to not sufficiently good and purposeful activity had dropped to poor. Scores for respect and preparation for release remained unchanged at reasonably good and not sufficiently good respectively. A rigid ordinance had been in place for some years that prevented prisoners on different wings from mixing and while this was likely to have been one of the reasons that levels of violence were lower than comparators, it was having a negative effect in many other ways. Access to the library was very limited (and sessions often cancelled), and only prisoners from B, C and E wings could access the better-resourced education hub, with the rest being taught in unsatisfactory classrooms off their wing.