The prison was given a full inspection in January 2023, 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 Gartree is a category B training prison for adult men near Market Harborough, Leicestershire, run by HM Prison and Probation Service, holding 594 prisoners against a baseline certified normal accommodation of 703, almost all serving indeterminate or very long sentences and 94% assessed as posing a high or very high risk of harm. Inspectors rated safety Reasonably Good, a decline from Good, respect and rehabilitation and release planning both Reasonably Good, unchanged, and purposeful activity Not Sufficiently Good, also a decline.
Staff-prisoner relationships were a clear strength, with 85% of prisoners saying they were treated with respect, well above comparable prisons, and only 5% locked up during the core working day. Recorded self-harm had fallen by 21% since the previous inspection, and family contact was better than at comparable prisons, with 22% of prisoners seeing family more than once a month.
Inspectors raised 10 concerns, 6 of them designated priority concerns. The physical fabric of the prison was poor and communal areas were often dirty, drugs continued to reach the prison despite security measures, and too many activity and education sessions were interrupted or poorly attended. Support for prisoners with learning difficulties was insufficient, care for those with chronic health conditions was inconsistent, almost 200 risk assessments were overdue, and more than 100 category C prisoners were being held at Gartree awaiting transfer to lower-security establishments.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
May 2023
To read the full reports, go to the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website or follow the links below:
- Inspection report (PDF), Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Gartree by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (16–26 January 2023, published 16 May 2023)
- Easy read summary of the 2023 inspection report
- Action plan, HM Prison and Probation Service action plan in response to the 2023 inspection of HMP Gartree