The prison received an Urgent Notification in October 2024 following a full inspection, and a follow-up full inspection was carried out in February 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 Winchester is a category B reception and resettlement prison in Hampshire, run by HM Prison and Probation Service, holding 625 prisoners against an operational capacity of 666 at the time of the 2026 follow-up inspection. Inspectors rated safety and respect both not sufficiently good, an improvement from Poor at the time of the Urgent Notification, while purposeful activity remained Poor and preparation for release remained reasonably good, both unchanged. Charlie Taylor said inspectors were encouraged by the progress leaders had made to stabilise the prison, though many of the weaknesses previously described persisted.
Health services had improved, with 41% of prisoners rating them very or quite good and faster mental health referral access, and mandatory drug test positivity fell from a January 2025 high of 45% to an average of 31% over the following year. Self-harm incidents fell by around 17% since the previous inspection. Notable positive practice included a family-support service run in partnership with Spurgeons, and a senior probation officer jointly leading the pre-release team and offender management unit, strengthening resettlement coordination.
Inspectors nonetheless found assault rates remained very high, with 415 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults and 196 assaults on staff per 1,000 prisoners, and use of force at 1,521 per 1,000. Self-harm stayed among the highest of comparable prisons, and 51% of prisoners said drugs were easy to obtain. A third of prisoners were locked up during the working day and nearly half had no allocated activity, Ofsted rated education and skills provision inadequate, 53% lived in crowded conditions, a quarter were released homeless, and discrimination complaints rose from 16 to 88 in the year.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
March 2026
To read the full reports, go to the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website or follow the links below:
| Inspection report, Report on a follow-up unannounced inspection of HMP Winchester by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (9–19 February 2026, published 26 May 2026) | Easy read summary of the 2026 inspection report |
| Action plan, HM Prison and Probation Service action plan in response to the 2026 inspection of HMP Winchester | |