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 Stocken is a category C training prison in Rutland, run by HM Prison and Probation Service, holding 1,051 men against an operational capacity of 1,071. Inspectors rated safety Good, an improvement from reasonably good, and rehabilitation and release planning improved to reasonably good from not sufficiently good, while respect remained reasonably good, unchanged, and purposeful activity declined to not sufficiently good from reasonably good. Inspectors praised an acting governor who had achieved a great deal despite adversity, restoring evening association and free movement for around 500 prisoners despite severe staffing shortfalls.
Violence fell sharply, with prisoner-on-prisoner assaults down 63% and assaults on staff nearly halved since the previous inspection, and drug test positivity was low at 2.45%. Healthcare access was reasonable, with GP appointments available within nine days and dental waiting times cut from 23 to 12 weeks. Inspectors highlighted a wellbeing programme delivering excellent outcomes and flexible use of the incentives scheme to interrupt spirals of poor behaviour without full demotion, saying that under this leadership the prison had the potential to become one of the best in the country.
Inspectors nonetheless found officer recruitment and retention ranking among the worst in the country, with shortages across every function, and around a quarter of requested cell searches went uncompleted as a result. Purposeful activity was the one area to decline, with only around a third of the population in full-time activity and over 130 prisoners waiting for maths provision above entry level. Ofsted rated education overall as inadequate, telephones were out of order for months in parts of the prison, and only one psychiatrist session ran per week, with two self-inflicted deaths having occurred since the last inspection.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
March 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 Stocken by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (16–27 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 Stocken | |