HMIP Inspections of Wormwood Scrubs

The prison was given a full inspection in June 2025, with an Independent Review of Progress carried out in March 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 Wormwood Scrubs is a category B local prison in west London, run by HM Prison and Probation Service, holding 1,144 prisoners against an operational capacity of 1,212. Inspectors rated safety declined to not sufficiently good from reasonably good, respect reasonably good, unchanged, purposeful activity declined to Poor from reasonably good, and preparation for release not sufficiently good, unchanged.

Inspectors found a reasonably calm and ordered prison with capable staff. Ten Listener suites gave prisoners confidential peer support, mental health services were high quality with short waits, and teaching of functional skills English and maths had improved significantly. By the time of the March 2026 review, drug reduction work showed a steep fall in illicit drug use, with random positive drug tests down to around 20% from roughly 35% at the 2025 inspection, driven by better searching, an upgraded substance-free living unit and multidisciplinary case management.

Inspectors nonetheless found over a third of random drug tests were positive at the time of the 2025 inspection, a rigid wing-separation policy blocked prisoners’ access to activities and visits, and unemployed prisoners, 39% of the population, got as little as 90 minutes out of cell daily. By the 2026 review, drugs had improved sharply, but time out of cell showed no meaningful progress, the wing-separation policy remained largely unchanged, and homelessness on release had risen to 32%, with a prison-wide cell-bell upgrade not due to finish for at least eight years.

Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
March 2026

HMP Wormwood Scrubr

To read the full reports, go to the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website or follow the links below: