The prison was given a full inspection in August 2025, the full report can be read on the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website, just follow the links below. In their latest report the inspectors said:
HMP Leicester is a category B local prison serving the courts of Leicester and the wider East Midlands, run by HM Prison and Probation Service, holding 328 prisoners against an operational capacity of 332. Inspectors rated safety not sufficiently good, a decline from reasonably good, and purposeful activity Poor, a decline from not sufficiently good, while respect and preparation for release both remained reasonably good, unchanged. Staff-prisoner relationships remained reasonably good despite the decline elsewhere.
A refurbished gym operating seven days a week was well used, with two-thirds of prisoners attending three or more times a week, and social visits provision had improved with more evening and weekend family sessions. The reopened library was drawing around 240 visitors a week, and resettlement partnerships with external agencies, along with staff retention and communication, were said to have improved.
Inspectors nonetheless found the violence rate was the highest of any comparable reception prison, with 821 assaults per 1,000 prisoners against a comparator average of 479, and 29% of drug tests were positive. Twenty-three per cent of prisoners said they felt unsafe and 40% reported bullying or victimisation. Healthcare partnerships had failed to address several longstanding issues affecting patient safety, unlock times were unreliable with extended lockdowns, and too many prisoners were released homeless.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
October 2025
To read the full reports, go to the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website or follow the links below:
- Inspection report (PDF), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Leicester by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (5 and 18–25 August 2025, published 17 November 2025)
- Easy read summary of the 2025 inspection report
- Action plan, HM Prison and Probation Service action plan in response to the 2025 inspection of HMP Leicester