The grim state of the nation’s prisons and immigration centres shouldn’t be much of a surprise to anyone. It was one of the first big crises after Labour got into power, and things were bad enough that it was never going to be sorted within two years.
However, a new report from independent monitoring boards (IMBs) – who keep the prison estate in England and Wales in check – has revealed what really goes on in the facilities.
Each year they pool their findings into a national report. The one released this week covers all of 2025.
Immigration centres
As well as prisons, IMBs keep an eye on short-term holding facilities (STHFs) and immigration removal centres (IRCs) operated by the Home Office.
In one eye-catching section of the report, the IMBs raise two occasions in the summer of 2025 when staff at one STHF were spotted wearing England flags on their uniforms.
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It says: ‘The Board felt this risked perceptions of bias or even intimidation among detained people, especially in the light of recent anti-immigration protests in which flag displays were prominent.’
The report also alleges several cases in which children – whose ‘detention should be avoided at all costs’ – were detained at Heathrow for almost two weeks due to delays in assessing their age.
Focusing on people held under the ‘one in, one out’ deal with France, the Board at Gatwick IRC found that 20% of those subject to age disputes were assessed to be children – a ‘strikingly high rate that indicates serious safeguarding gaps’.
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We do not accept this report’s findings. We accept nothing but the highest standards of safety, welfare provision and staff behaviour for those in our care.
‘This government inherited an under-resourced detention estate from the previous government. Since taking office, we have made significant improvements, including increased staffing levels and refurbishment of our facilities to improve conditions and safeguards.’
What about prisons?
The details in the IMB report paint a particularly stark picture.
For instance, there was a spider infestation at Bullingdon in Oxfordshire that led to two inmates being hospitalised and another being told he could lose his leg.
At HMP Buckley Hall in Rochdale, there were periods where 80 prisoners had to share four showers and 150 had to share one washing machine due to repair delays.
Perhaps most shocking, though, is the case of a prisoner who died in a cell fire in HMP Garth in Lancashire – because an alarm seemingly failed to go off.
Prisons Minister James Timpson said there had been ‘positive improvements across the estate thanks to strong leadership’, but the government knows ‘more needs to be done’.
He added: ‘To meet the challenge, our landmark sentencing reforms, alongside £4bn for 14,000 new prison places by 2031, will ease pressure, and we are tackling violence and drugs behind bars with over £40m invested in physical security to clamp down on contraband.’
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