The prison was given an Independent Review of Progress 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 Bullingdon is a category B/C reception and resettlement prison for adult men in Oxfordshire, run by HM Prison and Probation Service. A full inspection in July/August 2025 found it holding 1,102 prisoners against a certified normal accommodation of just 865, and rated safety and respect both Not Sufficiently Good, having declined from Reasonably Good, with purposeful activity remaining Poor and preparation for release remaining Not Sufficiently Good.
That 2025 inspection found a small number of things going in the right direction, including a new, experienced governor, developing use-of-force oversight and a substance-free living unit, gang-awareness training for staff, and in-cell “Launchpad” technology letting prisoners contact safety teams directly. But overcrowding, understaffing and drugs dominated the picture: over half the population was locked up during the working day, drones were identified as the main route for drugs entering the prison, assaults and use-of-force incidents had both risen sharply since 2022, and the education and training curriculum was rated Inadequate by Ofsted.
This Independent Review of Progress, carried out in April 2026, checks progress against the seven concerns raised in 2025 rather than re-scoring the four healthy prison tests. The Chief Inspector described the result as disappointing: only one concern, around public protection arrangements, showed reasonable progress. Four areas, including staffing levels, meaningful contact with offender managers, and standards on the healthcare inpatient unit, showed insufficient progress, and two, the physical security weaknesses letting drones in and the use of force as a genuine last resort, showed no meaningful progress at all. Time out of cell and staff vacancies remained largely unchanged, though a newly appointed head of healthcare was beginning to address poor standards. The Chief Inspector concluded that urgent and sustained attention from national leaders was needed on staff recruitment and tackling illicit drugs.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
May 2026
To read the full reports, go to the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website or follow the links below:
| Independent Review of Progress, HM Inspectorate of Prisons review of progress at HMP Bullingdon (13–15 April 2026, published 26 May 2026) | Inspection report (PDF), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Bullingdon by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (28 July–7 August 2025, published 27 October 2025) |
| Action plan, HM Prison and Probation Service action plan in response to the 2025 inspection of HMP Bullingdon | HMP Bullingdon, Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Bullingdon (24 October–3 November 2022, published 20 February 2023) |