08/12/2025
Inspectors have returned to HMP Guys Marsh to assess whether the prison has made progress since the full inspection in January, when serious concerns were raised about safety, staffing, drugs, violence and living conditions. The Independent Review of Progress report by Charlie Taylor
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons shows a mixed picture, with some areas improving and others showing insufficient progress.
Leaders at Guys Marsh have set a clearer direction. The governor was providing stronger guidance and working hard to drive improvement, and the senior management team was more stable and more 'visible' across the prison. However, inspectors found insufficient progress in improving the quality of leadership overall. Many first-line and middle managers still lacked confidence and experience, and national coaching had strengthened officers’ skills but had not yet improved managers’ capability to the standard required.
Staffing remained fragile. The report states that staff availability has now risen to around 80%, compared with about 60% at the time of the full inspection in January. Recruitment was unpredictable, though, and officers who had accepted roles often did not arrive. The prison could no longer rely on recruiting from Commonwealth countries either, because of changes to Home Office rules, and three staff recruited in this way had already been lost. Leaders were more robust in managing sickness absence and restricted duties, and a strong take-up of overtime meant more officers were available for operational work. The BBC recently reported that Guys Marsh had the highest proportion of staff in the country taking at least one mental-health-related sickness day, around forty-five per cent. Inspectors acknowledged some steps forward but judged insufficient progress in staffing resilience.
Work to improve the fabric of the building had continued. Heating had been repaired, more windows had been replaced, shower areas upgraded, and litter and debris cleared. Living conditions had improved and inspectors judged reasonable progress here.
Mandatory drug testing, which had stopped before the January inspection, restarted in July. Measures to reduce the supply of drugs were expanded and included increased staff and cell searching, enhanced mail screening and new cell windows to reduce throw-overs. A peer mentoring scheme offering one-to-one support for prisoners beginning recovery had begun. However, inspectors found insufficient progress in reducing the overall impact of drugs. Not all intelligence could be acted upon because of limited staff and resources, and Guys Marsh still did not have the enhanced gate security found in similar prisons.
Self-harm remained a concern but the situation had improved. There were 206 incidents of self-harm recorded in the six months to September, significantly down from 528 in the previous six-month period. Inspectors recorded new activity designed to support prisoners at risk, including increased access to the gym, yoga sessions and motivational speakers. One prisoner described taking a deliberate overdose outside healthcare operating hours because he felt his symptoms had been dismissed; when he reached hospital, clinical staff confirmed that the treatment he believed he required had in fact been necessary. Inspectors judged reasonable progress in addressing self-harm but said more work was needed.
Healthcare still faced capacity problems. Only nine prison es**rt slots to external medical appointments were available each week, the same number as in January, and this did not meet demand. This continued to lead to delays in prisoners receiving hospital care, and inspectors recorded insufficient progress in this area.
Education continued to develop, and Ofsted found reasonable progress in three of the four themes it reviewed. Attendance and participation in education, skills and work had improved considerably, and leaders had removed waiting lists for English and maths. Workshops and classes were more stable, and some prisoners were now gaining skills that could be used after release, including basic electrical work and television-repair knowledge. However, overall attendance was still too low, and Ofsted judged insufficient progress in delivering the prison’s reading strategy because staffing remained too thin to support it fully.
Violence had fallen, and inspectors judged reasonable progress in reducing and managing it. Staff–prisoner relationships were improving, case management was stronger and more consistent, and more activity was available to prisoners during the day. Use of force had also reduced. Incidents were down by around thirty per cent, body-worn camera use had risen to nearly eighty per cent, and inspectors judged this area to show good progress.
Overall, inspectors said that Guys Marsh was making headway in several important areas, including safety, living conditions, activity and the reduction of violence. But they also highlighted that progress was too slow in leadership, staffing resilience, healthcare access and tackling the broader impact of drugs. The report concludes that while some foundations are now in place, further sustained improvement is required before the prison can deliver consistently safe and stable outcomes.
