The prison was given a full inspection in September 2023, the full report can be read on the HM Inspectorate of Prisons website, just follow the links below. In their latest report the inspectors said:
HMP & YOI Littlehey is a category C training prison near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, run by HM Prison and Probation Service, holding 1,226 men against an operational capacity of 1,240, principally men convicted of sexual offences. Inspectors rated safety Good, unchanged, but respect declined to reasonably good, down from Good, and purposeful activity declined to not sufficiently good, down from reasonably good, while preparation for release improved to reasonably good, up from not sufficiently good. An energetic governor was praised for strong leadership across a large and complex population.
Eighty-eight per cent of prisoners said they were treated well on arrival, and violence remained low with only 92 recorded assaults over the year. Drug availability had fallen significantly since the last inspection and self-harm had dropped by around 30%. Seventy-eight per cent of prisoners said staff treated them with respect, and around three-quarters got roughly nine hours out of cell on weekdays, with strong family-day and progression-unit provision for indeterminate-sentence prisoners.
Inspectors nonetheless raised serious concern over four self-inflicted deaths since the previous inspection despite the good safety rating, and found health services under-resourced for a population that included people needing end-of-life care. Reception processes were weak, with only around half of new arrivals processed within two hours, and the physical environment was shabby in places, with hundreds of outstanding repairs and cells still doubled up. Education was rated as requiring improvement by Ofsted, with waiting lists described as far too long.
Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
October 2023
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 & YOI Littlehey by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (4–14 September 2023, published week commencing 4 December 2023) | Easy read summary of the 2023 inspection report |
| Action plan, HM Prison and Probation Service action plan in response to the 2023 inspection of HMP & YOI Littlehey | |