HMP & YOI Doncaster

Key Contact Details

Doncaster is a Category B local and young offender establishment in South Yorkshire, opened in the early 1990s and run under contract by Serco. It has capacity for over 1,100 men and takes prisoners on remand, awaiting trial, and sentenced by local courts.

The most recent independent inspection, in September 2025 and published that December, raised ten separate concerns. Inspectors found a lack of proper care for prisoners at risk of self-harm, cells often too small to allow decency and privacy, and weak clinical oversight affecting mental health care, medicines administration and access to appointments. Drug availability was judged to pose risks to both stability and prisoners’ health, dental waiting times were lengthy, and there were not enough education, skills and work places, with existing spaces underused. On release planning, inspectors found around 70% of prisoners leaving without settled accommodation arranged.

Doncaster’s operator has submitted a formal action plan in response. Given the release-planning gap inspectors identified, families supporting someone due for release may want to raise housing arrangements early, alongside using the practical visiting and contact details above.