| General Details, | Inspections |
| Regimes | Visits and getting there |
| Local News | |
Key Contact Details
| Name of Prison | HMP Bristol |
| Address: | 19 Cambridge Road Bristol BS7 8PS |
| Other contact details: | |
| Web Site: | |
| Email: | |
| Main switchboard: | 0117 372 3100 |
| At Risk hotline: | |
| Fax: | 0117 372 3113 |
| Visits booking number: | 0117 372 3213 |
| Visits booking email: | SocialVisits.Bristol@hmps.gsi.gov.uk |
| Visits booking web site: | www.gov.uk/prison-visits |
| Visitors centre web site: | Click here |
| Visitors centre number: | 01179 244866 |
| Type of Prison: | Male Cat B |
HMP Bristol is a Category B reception prison holding up to around 580 adult men, taking prisoners from courts across the wider Bristol area. In 2023 it became one of the small number of prisons ever placed under a statutory Urgent Notification, after inspectors found it among the most unsafe prisons in the country, with violence against staff and other prisoners running higher than almost anywhere else in the estate, severe staff shortages forcing men into near-total lockdown, and eight self-inflicted deaths recorded since the previous inspection.
A follow-up independent review in June 2024 found substantial improvement: of nine areas assessed, eight showed reasonably good or better progress, staffing had been fully recruited, daily routines restored, and recorded violence had fallen by around a quarter, alongside more prisoners accessing work and education. Self-harm rates had also declined, though they remained roughly double those at comparable prisons. The Chief Inspector was clear that this progress was still “fragile” and would need sustained national support to be maintained.
Families and friends of anyone at Bristol may find it reassuring that conditions have moved on markedly from the 2023 low point, while bearing in mind that inspectors themselves flagged the improvements as recent and not yet secure.