HMP & YOI Forest Bank

Key Contact Details

The prison is run by Sodexo Justice Services and is part of the North West prison region, The #1 governor is Lyndon Noonan who has been in charge since January 2022 and the prison has a capacity of 1366.

Forest Bank, near Salford, is a Category B reception and resettlement prison for men and young offenders, run under contract by Sodexo Justice Services. It typically holds significantly more men than its baseline certified capacity of around 1,060, with numbers reported closer to 1,460, and takes in an average of around 500 new receptions a month.

The most recent independent inspection, in December 2024, rated Forest Bank “not sufficiently good” for safety and purposeful activity, and “reasonably good” for respect and preparation for release. Inspectors found reception and induction took too long, with poorly equipped cells for new arrivals, alongside high violence and widespread drug availability (38% of random tests came back positive) and insufficient hospital escort capacity causing dangerous delays. On the positive side, working prisoners were getting up to eight hours a day out of their cells, restorative mediation was helping prevent violence, and public protection and resettlement support were judged effective. The lead inspector described the prison as still “fragile”, with a relatively inexperienced staff team.

Given the pace of new arrivals at Forest Bank, families may find the first days after someone is received particularly worth checking in on, alongside using the practical visiting and contact details above.