The prison was given a full inspection in April 2026, 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 Ashfield is a category C prison for adult men convicted of sexual offences, run by Serco near Bristol. Inspectors rated it Good for safety, Good for respect, Good for preparation for release, and Not Sufficiently Good for purposeful activity, describing overall “a very good inspection” and a prison that remained well-run with a strong culture.
Violence was found to be very low, among the lowest of comparable prisons, with only a handful of prisoner-on-prisoner assaults over the year and none on staff, while use of force was rare and drugs and alcohol far less available than at similar establishments. The reception and induction process was calm and unhurried, backed by effective peer support, and staff-prisoner relationships together with the key-worker scheme were identified as a particular strength. Living conditions were clean and uncrowded, food quality was good, and the prison made innovative use of in-cell digital technology to help prisoners communicate and access services. Family contact was well supported through a partnership with the charity POPS, family days, and a dedicated throughcare initiative, along with free transport for visitors. Inspectors also praised support for older and neurodiverse prisoners, a newly developing therapeutic community, and a strong reading culture run with the Shannon Trust.
Set against this were eight concerns, four of them priority issues. Complaints, including those raising discrimination or staff conduct, were often investigated poorly and lacked proper scrutiny, undermining prisoners’ confidence that raising a concern would lead to change; some minority ethnic prisoners felt better jobs went disproportionately to white prisoners, and some transgender prisoners reported being misgendered without this being challenged. Progress on known healthcare risks, including gaps in specialist nursing and long-standing diagnostic pathways for conditions such as dementia, autism and ADHD, was judged too slow. Leadership of education and skills needed strengthening, with targets for prisoners not well set or tracked and quality-assurance processes still immature, echoing a linked Ofsted inspection that rated education overall as requiring improvement. Inspectors also flagged limited self-catering facilities, insufficient staffing for careers guidance, and lengthy delays – in some cases years beyond eligibility – in moving suitable prisoners on to open conditions.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
July 2026
To read the full reports, go to the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website or follow the links below:
- Inspection report, HM Inspectorate of Prisons website, Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Ashfield by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (13–23 April 2026)
- Easy read summary of the 2026 inspection report
- Ofsted report, education and skills findings from the 2026 inspection
- Action plan, response to the 2026 inspection of HMP Ashfield
- Inspection report (PDF), previous inspection of HMP Ashfield (9–20 October 2023, published 15 January 2024)
- Action plan, response to the 2023 inspection of HMP Ashfield