| General Details | Inspections |
| Regimes | Visits and getting there |
| Work and Education | Local News |
Key Contact Details
| Name of Prison | HMP Styal |
| Address: | Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 4HR |
| Other contact details: | |
| Web Site: | |
| Email: | |
| Main switchboard: | 01625 553000 |
| At Risk hotline: | |
| Fax: | 01625 553001 |
| Visits booking number: | 01625 553 195, |
| Visits booking email: | socialvisits.styal@hmps.gsi.gov.uk |
| Visits booking web site: | www.gov.uk/prison-visits |
| Visitors centre web site: | www.partnersofprisoners.co.uk/hmp-styal/ |
| Visitors centre number | 01625 553071 |
| Type of Prison: | Female closed |
The prison is the only female prison in the North West Region, it is run by HMPS and has a capacity of 486. The #1 governor is Nicky Hargreaves who has been in charge since March 2021
HMP&YOI Styal opened in 1962 on the site of a former children’s orphanage in Cheshire, taking its first women from HMP Manchester, and remains the only women’s prison in the North West of England. It is a closed prison holding sentenced and remanded adult women and young offenders, including a mother and baby unit for babies up to 18 months old, with an operational capacity of around 486.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons visited in December 2024 and identified serious priority concerns, including the highest rate of positive drug tests of any women’s prison, poor housing conditions in need of significant investment, and insufficient staff supervision on residential units. Inspectors also found too many acutely mentally unwell women being held at Styal, weak incentives for good behaviour, and low attendance in education, alongside outdated English and maths teaching. The Chief Inspector had previously found strong, cohesive leadership at Styal and remained cautiously confident that the current team could drive improvement, even as staff vacancies and ageing accommodation, including damp and leaking buildings, continued to hold the prison back.
Given the mental health and safety concerns identified, families with a loved one at Styal may find it worth asking directly about wellbeing and support during visits — the visitors centre and contact details above are the best way to arrange this.