| General Details | Inspections |
| Regimes | Visits and getting there |
| Work and Education | Local News |
Key Contact Details
| Name of Prison | HMP Downview |
| Address: | Sutton Lane, Sutton Surrey, SM2 5PD |
| Other contact details: | |
| Web Site: | |
| Email: | |
| Main switchboard: | 020 8196 6300 |
| At Risk hotline: | |
| Fax: | 020 8196 6301 |
| Visits booking number: | 020 8196 6359 |
| Visits booking email: | |
| Visits booking txt number: | |
| Type of Prison: | Female |
The prison was opened as a male Cat C in 1989, but since then has undergone numerous changes in role, recently being refurbished and opened a a female closed prison in May 2016. It has an operational capacity of 355 and is part of the London region. The #1 governor is Amy Dixon, who has been in charge since June 2022
Downview has switched roles several times since it opened as a men’s Category C prison in 1989: it briefly hosted the UK’s first intensive residential drug and alcohol treatment programme, became a women’s prison in 2001, closed in 2013 for a planned conversion back to a men’s prison, and reopened as a women’s closed prison in 2016 following the closure of HMP Holloway. In 2019 it opened one of the UK’s first wings dedicated to transgender prisoners.
The most recent independent inspection, in February 2026, rated Downview “good” for safety and “reasonably good” for respect, purposeful activity and preparation for release — a clear improvement on its 2021 inspection. Inspectors praised strong leadership and a dedicated safety team, good mental health support, and solid education and employment provision. They were more critical of some officers’ dismissive attitudes towards women, very long delays transferring acutely mentally unwell women to hospital (one wait of 156 days was recorded), staffing shortages in resettlement work, and only around a quarter of women being released with settled housing arranged.
Overall this points to a prison making genuine progress, though families may still want to ask directly about release and housing planning, alongside using the practical visiting and contact details above.