A prison in Nottinghamshire has been given ‘the worst possible score’ on safety in its latest inspection by the prisons watchdog.

An inspection report on HMP Lowdham Grange has revealed critical failures in prisoners’ safety due to increased violence, drug-use and self-harm incidents.

In an unannounced visit by the Prisons Inspector in March 2025, Lowdham Grange was rated to be just as poor, and worse on some measures, than the previous inspection in May 2023. Quoted by the BBC, inspection team leader Hindpal Bhui said, ‘we gave Lowdham Grange the worst possible scores on safety, respect, and decency’.

Since the last inspection in 2023, 10 people have died in the prison and 4 of these cases are suspected to be related to drug-use. Health services were no longer being provided regularly, even though a high number of medical emergencies were being linked to drugs. 56% of surveyed prisoners said it was easy to get a hold of drugs, and in the last 10 months 40.6% tested positive in random drug tests. Overwhelmed health services contributed to the increase of self-harm incidents making the third highest among category B training prisons, and not all self-harm incidents were being recorded.

The deterioration of standards began with the transition between private service providers. Serco managed Lowdham Grange until 2023 when Sodexo took over management of the prison. The inspector’s report found that the ‘handover was mismanaged and the new contractor failed to deliver on its commitments’. The facility has since been managed by HM Prison and Probation Service.

Lowdham Grange is classified as a category B training prison. Training prisons are designed to help prisoners gain the skills that they need to rehabilitate into the community. In the 2023 inspection, 39% of surveyed prisoners said their experience at HMP Lowdham Grange would decrease their likelihood of re-offending, compared to 57% from the most recent survey. Andrea Coomber, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, stated that the prison ‘is setting people up to fail’ rather than achieving its goal as a training prison.

Despite the poor report, the inspector decided against issuing an Urgent Notification to the Secretary of State because the Prison Service was already aware of the issues at Lowdham Grange and were providing support. Chief Inspector, Charlie Taylor, stated that the new governor  ‘had established an understanding of the key issues that needed to be addressed’, which left inspectors with hope for improvements to be implemented.