Bristol Prison inspection reveals "extremely worrying conditions"

The Chief Inspector of Prisons wrote to the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor on Wednesday 26 July to issue an urgent notification for improvement at HMP Bristol after an unannounced inspection revealed extremely worrying conditions.

Bristol, which had previously been issued with an urgent notification in 2019, remained one of the most unsafe prisons in the country: seven prisoners had taken their own lives in the last 10 months. One man had also been charged with murdering his cell-mate. Despite this high level of risk, emergency cell call bells often went unanswered by staff.

The prison was violent and riddled with drugs, some of which were delivered by drones to prisoners through cell windows from which they had removed the glass under the noses of prison officers.

With serious staff shortages, the prison was struggling to deliver any kind of regime and most men spent up to 22 hours a day locked in their cells. Almost half of cells now held two men, meaning they were very cramped indeed. Some prisoners were held in single cells with no in-cell sanitation sharing toilets in an appalling condition. Despite the obvious effects of overcrowding, the capacity of the prison had actually been increased on several occasions since the last inspection.

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, said:

“This was a very worrying inspection, but the challenges facing Bristol – short staffing, aging facilities, overcrowding and unstable leadership with inadequate support from the centre – can be seen in other jails across England and Wales, albeit thankfully to a lesser extent. Our concern is that, with rising population pressures and increasingly stretched resources, more and more prisons are going to start to struggle.

“The situation in many prisons is concerning and we need to see resolute support from the centre over the coming months to every prison and governor if we’re to avoid seeing more  prisons in the desperate state that Bristol is in. We cannot end up in a situation where men are simply warehoused in appalling conditions, with real risk of harm not only to them, but also to the public on their release if their rehabilitation is not being supported during their time in custody.”

Notes to editors

1. The Urgent Notification process was introduced in 2017 and is a means of raising immediate, urgent concerns following an inspection which requires a response and action plan from the Secretary of State within 28 days. A full report from the inspection is still published in the normal timeframe of within 14 weeks of the inspection. The urgent notification is supported by the evidence of the debrief from the inspection, which is presented to the governor, and which outlines the key issues which will be explored in more detail in the full report once published.
2. Embargoed copies of the letter and the debrief from the inspection sent to the Secretary of State on 26 July 2023  are attached to this email and will be published on the inspectorate website from Friday 28 July 2023.
3. This inspection took place between 10-20 July 2023. We previously issued an Urgent Notification for HMP Bristol in 2019. Bristol has been a prison in difficulty for some time, with inspection findings since 2013 charting a steady decline.

1. We invoke an urgent notification by writing to the Secretary of State for Justice within seven calendar days of completing an inspection setting out our concerns. We also tell the governor of the prison that we are doing so. The Secretary of State then has 28 days following publication of the urgent notification to reply to us setting out an action plan of improvement. In this instance, the plan would be due on Friday 25 August 2023. Find out more about Urgent Notifications.
2. HM Inspectorate of Prisons is an independent inspectorate, inspecting places of detention to report on conditions and treatment and promote positive outcomes for those detained and the public.