The prison was given a full inspection in November 2025, 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 & YOI Low Newton is a women’s prison in County Durham, run by HM Prison and Probation Service, holding 267 women against an operational capacity of 298, and also functions as a high-security reception prison for restricted-status women prisoners. Inspectors rated safety and respect both Good, unchanged, while purposeful activity improved to reasonably good, up from not sufficiently good, and preparation for release improved to Good, up from reasonably good. The prison was described as well-run and decent, setting a benchmark other women’s prisons should aspire to, under a governor credited with driving a genuine change in culture.
Eighty-one per cent of women said they were treated with respect, and well over half said staff had shown an interest in their welfare and that their wellbeing had improved since arriving, both far above the comparator average for women’s prisons. Education, skills and work provision was rated good by Ofsted, and self-harm rates were the second-lowest among comparable prisons. Most women had well over five hours unlocked each day, and only a small minority were locked up during the working day.
Inspectors nonetheless raised concerns that some women who were acutely mentally unwell had been sent to prison for want of community mental health services or secure hospital beds, that use of force had risen sharply over the previous year, and that women waited too long to have phone numbers added to their accounts. Three-quarters of women were released homeless or without settled accommodation in the previous year, some women were still sharing escort vans with men on long journeys, and not all healthcare areas met infection-prevention standards.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
December 2025
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 & YOI Low Newton by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (10–20 November 2025, published 24 February 2026) | Easy read summary of the 2025 inspection report |
| Action plan, HM Prison and Probation Service action plan in response to the 2025 inspection of HMP & YOI Low Newton | |