The prison was given a full inspection in October 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 Highpoint is a category C training and resettlement prison for adult men on a former RAF base in rural Suffolk, run by HM Prison and Probation Service, formed from the merger of its north and south sites in 2011. It holds 1,284 prisoners against an operational capacity of 1,308. Inspectors rated safety Reasonably Good and respect Good, both unchanged, purposeful activity Poor, a decline from Reasonably Good, and preparation for release Not Sufficiently Good, unchanged.
Ninety-eight per cent of prisoners said they received an induction, 93% could shower daily, and 67% said they could easily speak with a member of staff above supervisor grade, well above the comparator average. Only 15% were locked in cells during the working day, notably lower than comparable prisons, and 96% of those who wanted to attend religious services could do so.
Inspectors nonetheless raised nine concerns, five of them designated priority concerns. More than one in six prisoners was unemployed, with workshops for motor vehicle mechanics, plumbing, catering, digital skills and barbering left unused due to staff shortages, and only around a third of key work sessions had been delivered in the previous six months. Forty-eight prisoners across both sites were self-isolating in their cells for fear of violence or bullying without adequate support. Forty per cent of prisoners said drugs were easy to get, the average positive drug test rate over the previous six months stood at 21%, and there had been three self-inflicted deaths since the previous inspection, with a fourth a few weeks after this one. Only 41% rated the food as good or very good.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
January 2024
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 Highpoint by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (16–27 October 2023, published 30 January 2024) | Easy read summary of the 2024 inspection report |
| Action plan, HM Prison and Probation Service action plan in response to the 2024 inspection of HMP Highpoint | |