There is an “At Risk” telephone hotline available for visitors, families or friends of prisoners. This can be used to contact and inform staff at HMP Ranby if you believe that a prisoner may be at risk of harm, be it self harm, harm from others or harm to others. The telephone number is 01777 862342 and is available 24 hours a day.
| General Details | Inspections |
| Regimes | Visits and getting there |
| Work and Education | |
Key data and contact details
| Name or Prison | HMP Ranby |
| Address: | Straight Mile Retford Notts DN22 8EU |
| Other contact details: | |
| Web Site: | |
| Email: | |
| Main switchboard: | 01777 862 000 |
| At risk hotline: | 01777 862 342 |
| Fax: | 01777 862 001 |
| Visits booking number: | 01777 862107. |
| Visits booking email: | |
| Visits booking txt number: | |
| Type of Prison: | Male Cat C |
HMP Ranby, near Retford in Nottinghamshire, began as a British Army camp during the Second World War before being converted into a prison in the early 1970s. It has been expanded several times since, with new wings added in the 1980s, 1996, 1998, and 2008, and today it is a Category C training prison holding around 1,000 to 1,100 men across seven house blocks of varying sizes.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons visited in February 2025 and rated Ranby “not sufficiently good” across all four healthy prison tests. Inspectors found excessive drug availability, with around a quarter of prisoners reporting a substance problem developing since arrival, alongside dilapidated buildings and shortages of basic items like bedding and cleaning materials. Educational and work participation was too low, and support from offender managers and key workers for helping prisoners progress was found to be inadequate. Notably, the report found outcomes varied significantly depending on which house block a prisoner was on, with conditions and opportunities considerably worse on some blocks than others.
Given this variation, families in touch with someone at Ranby may find it useful to ask which part of the prison they are held on and what activities are available to them — the contact details above are the best way to get up-to-date information.