The prison was given a full inspection in May 2023, 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 North Sea Camp is a category D open resettlement prison in Lincolnshire, run by HM Prison and Probation Service, holding 296 men, more than half convicted of sexual offences, against a certified normal accommodation of 300. Inspectors rated safety Good, an improvement from the previous inspection, while respect and preparation for release both declined to reasonably good, and purposeful activity remained broadly unchanged at reasonably good, giving the prison reasonably good or good outcomes against all four tests.
Violence remained very low, with just one minor assault on a prisoner recorded in the previous year and no use of force since March 2022. Eighty-six per cent of prisoners were involved in purposeful activity, and the positive rate on random drug testing was under 5%, lower than at the previous inspection. Releases on temporary licence had risen substantially since 2017, supporting the prison’s resettlement role, and there had been only three absconds in the past year.
Inspectors nonetheless found that almost all prisoners on the main site lived in cramped, shared double cells with no space for even a table or chair. The proportion of prisoners saying staff treated them with respect had fallen from 93% to 82% since 2017, and access to healthcare on the first night had dropped from 88% to 60%. Family contact was a particular weakness, with face-to-face visit sessions cut from five a week to three since 2017, and just 13% of prisoners saying it was easy for family or friends to visit, well below similar prisons. Inspectors also identified public protection failings, including incidents where restricted prisoners gained inappropriate access to vulnerable people.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
June 2023
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 North Sea Camp by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (22 May–2 June 2023, published week commencing 28 August 2023) | Easy read summary of the 2023 inspection report |
| Action plan, HM Prison and Probation Service action plan in response to the 2023 inspection of HMP North Sea Camp | |