HMP Altcourse

From PFI build to Sodexo contract

In shortAltcourse opened in 1997 as a PFI-built private prison and has been run by Sodexo since 1 June 2023, although GOV.UK still names G4S.

HMP Altcourse was purpose-built, designed, built and financed under the Private Finance Initiative by Group 4 and its partner Tarmac. The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) describes an 80-acre site about six miles north of Liverpool city centre, with the contract overseen by a Ministry of Justice Controller.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) said in August 2025 that the transfer to Sodexo had been generally handled well and that most of the workforce stayed in post, which gave continuity.

Who is held and how the prison is organised

In shortA male category B reception and resettlement prison holding about 1,100 to 1,200 men, with one of the busiest receptions in England and Wales.

• Reception moves a year~21,000New arrivals, discharges and transfers (HMIP 2025)
• Held, July 20251,193Operational capacity 1,194
• Sharing a one-person cell64%HMIP 2025
• Held, June 2026Almost 1,100Nearly a third on licence recall

HMIP’s 2025 inspection described the task of the prison as a male category B reception and resettlement establishment. Population pressure across the estate meant it also took men from outside its usual area, including courts in Manchester and Preston.

In its June 2026 review visit HMIP said the prison receives prisoners from several courts in Merseyside and Cheshire as well as Bolton, and that nearly a third of the population were on licence recall, one of the highest proportions in the reception estate.

• Wings named by HMIP in 2025: a vulnerable-prisoner induction unit, a general induction wing, a substance misuse recovery wing, an incentivised substance-free living wing and an enhanced single-cell unit.
• Two ‘calm’ wings for men who sign a compact to behave well.
• The IMB’s 2024-25 report lists seven residential units, a 12-bed health care unit, a sports hall, a care and separation unit, workshops and a football pitch.

What inspectors found in 2025

In shortStrong staff-prisoner relationships, but serious concerns about drugs, health care and activity.

• SafetyNot sufficiently good
• RespectReasonably good
• Purposeful activityPoor
• Preparation for releaseReasonably good

HMIP’s unannounced inspection ran from 7 to 18 July 2025 and the report was published in October 2025. Inspectors identified 13 key concerns, six of them priorities.

On staffing, inspectors said the director was responsible for recruiting staff, training took place on site, and although there were some shortages of frontline staff overall, the regime was generally able to run on time.

The June 2026 review visit

In shortHMIP found uneven progress: good on two concerns, insufficient on four, with drugs, violence and self-harm still high.

• Concerns followed up10Independent review of progress, 6 to 8 July 2026
• Good progress2Food and health care patient safety
• Reasonable progress4
• Insufficient progress4

The review was published on 24 August 2026. These visits follow up selected concerns and do not re-score the healthy-prison tests. Ofsted found reasonable progress on all three education, skills and work themes.

Leaders understood the risks far better than before, but progress was uneven. A £2 million programme to improve window security had begun, with two of six residential units finished.

What the IMB reported for 2024-25

In shortThe IMB praised staff-prisoner relationships and a big rise in key work, but flagged reception pressure and workshop closures.

• Key work sessions81.7%End June 2025, up from about 18% at end June 2024
• Caseload for new officers8 prisonersTaught the role in initial training

The IMB’s annual report for 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, published in December 2025, said a change in court catchment area had led to constant movement of prisoners and late arrivals from court, adding pressure to reception.

It repeated that the prison ‘has always enjoyed, and still maintains, a good reputation for staff and prisoner relationships’, which it linked to relatively low levels of staff assaults and use of force.

• All prison custody officers carry out key work.
• Ongoing difficulty recruiting and retaining paid kitchen staff.
• Redeployment of officers because of staff shortages had at times closed workshops, although less often than in the previous year.

Working at Altcourse

In shortStaff are Sodexo prison custody officers, not HMPPS officers, and we have no verified current Sodexo salary to publish.

Altcourse is run by a private operator, so frontline staff are employed as prison custody officers (PCOs) by Sodexo rather than as HMPPS prison officers.

• The Fair and Sustainable pay bands, pay zones and market supplements published for public-sector prisons do not apply.
• We have no verified, current Sodexo salary scale to publish.
• Vacancies are advertised by Sodexo, not through the HMPPS Prison and Probation Jobs site, so check Sodexo’s careers pages and the Find a Job service for live roles.