HMP Berwyn

The #1 governor is Rebecca Hayward who has been in post since October 2018, and the prison is run by HMPS as part of the Welsh region.

Berwyn opened in February 2017 on the outskirts of Wrexham and, with capacity for around 2,100 men, is the largest prison in the UK. It is a Category C training and resettlement prison built on a campus model rather than traditional wings: residents live in smaller “houses” named after Welsh rivers, each housing around 88 men, with a central industry building containing a dozen workshops alongside education, sports and wellbeing facilities intended to prepare men for release.

Despite this design, the most recent independent inspection, in January and February 2025, found Berwyn was “not safe enough”, with prisoner violence — including against staff — having risen since the previous visit and running high. Inspectors also found high levels of substance misuse compromising safety and rehabilitation, too few prisoners in full-time education or work (around a quarter were unemployed), and generally low attendance at the activities on offer. Interaction between staff and prisoners was often poor quality, and key work aimed at supporting progress through a sentence was found to be ineffective.

HMPPS submitted a formal action plan in response to these findings in May 2025. Given the gap between Berwyn’s ambitious design and what inspectors actually found, families may want to discuss day-to-day conditions directly with anyone held there, alongside using the practical visiting and contact details above.