The prison was given a full inspection in June and July 2025, with an Independent Review of Progress carried out in April 2026; the full reports can be read on the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website, just follow the links below. In their latest report the inspectors said:
HMP Wakefield is a high-security category A training prison in West Yorkshire, run by HM Prison and Probation Service, holding 630 long-term and life-sentenced prisoners against an operational capacity of 648, around two-thirds of them convicted of sexual offences. Inspectors rated respect reasonably good, unchanged, and preparation for release reasonably good, unchanged, while safety declined to not sufficiently good from reasonably good and purposeful activity declined to Poor from not sufficiently good. Charlie Taylor said Wakefield was a prison under strain, with pockets of good practice and committed staff undermined by the cumulative impact of infrastructure failures and staffing pressures.
Health services had improved markedly, with stronger clinical leadership, and 84% of new arrivals said they were treated well in reception. Seventy-seven per cent of prisoners said staff treated them with respect and 74% said they had someone to turn to, family contact was a strength with good visit facilities and monthly family days, and preparation-for-release work held up well despite the wider strain elsewhere in the jail.
Inspectors nonetheless found violent incidents up 62% and serious assaults up 72% since the previous inspection, with three-quarters of prisoners saying they had felt unsafe at some point. Purposeful activity collapsed to Poor, with 51% of prisoners locked up during the working day and only 28% engaged in activity off the wings, while failing security systems, leaking roofs and inadequate heating forced repeated workshop closures. A follow-up review in April 2026 found only two of eight tracked concerns showing good progress, and noted that in the months after the 2025 inspection there had been two alleged murders in very close succession.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
April 2026
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 Wakefield by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (30 June–10 July 2025, published 29 September 2025) | 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 Wakefield | Independent Review of Progress, HM Inspectorate of Prisons review of progress at HMP Wakefield (27–29 April 2026, published 8 June 2026) |