| General Information | Visits and Getting there |
| Inspections | IRP Report |
| Prison Regime | Work and Education |
| Local News | |
MoJ Intervention and change of control
Key data and contact details
| Name or Prison | HMP Birmingham |
| Address: | Winson Green Road, Birmingham, B18 4AS |
| Other contact details: | |
| Web Site: | not available |
| Email: | not available |
| Main switchboard: | 0121 598 8000 |
| At Risk hotline: | not available |
| Fax: | 0121 345 2501 |
| Visits booking number: | Not available |
| Visits booking email: | Not available |
| Visits booking txt number: | Not available |
| Type of Prison: | Male Cat B & C |
HMP Birmingham takes prisoners from the Crown and Magistrates’ Courts of Birmingham and Shrewsbury and the Magistrates’ Courts of Lichfield, Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth, Warley, Dudley and Telford
HMP Birmingham is a Category B reception prison, holding men who no longer need maximum security conditions but for whom escape must still be made very difficult, mainly those newly remanded or sentenced by the courts it serves. Its population is highly transient: around 88% of prisoners are unsentenced, on remand, or recalled to custody, with roughly 5,000 new receptions and an average of 222 releases every month. The prison has changed hands more than once since 2011 — run for a period by the private contractor G4S, it was returned to public (HM Prison Service) management in 2019 after serious concerns were raised by inspectors (see the “change of control” report linked above).
The most recent independent inspection, carried out by HM Inspectorate of Prisons in October 2025, rated Birmingham “not sufficiently good” for safety, respect and preparation for release, and “poor” for purposeful activity — a decline from the “reasonably good” ratings for safety and respect recorded in 2023. Inspectors highlighted rising violence and self-harm, widespread drug use (over a third of random drug tests came back positive), deteriorating living conditions, and a number of acutely mentally unwell men being held in the prison rather than in more appropriate settings.
A long-running refurbishment of three Victorian wings, first commissioned in 2019, has been repeatedly delayed and is not now expected to complete before mid-2027 at the earliest, which has reduced the prison’s usable capacity well below its certified normal level. Families and friends planning a visit, or awaiting news of someone held at Birmingham, may find it useful to bear these findings in mind alongside the practical visiting and contact details in the sections above.