HMP & YOI East Sutton Park

An open prison for women in a Kent manor house

In shortEast Sutton Park has been a women’s establishment since 1946 and is an open prison built around release on temporary licence.

• Operational capacity100HMPPS
• Held76At 24 August 2026

HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) records that East Sutton Park opened as a borstal for girls in 1946 and has been a women’s establishment ever since. The prison comprises a 15th century listed manor house set in around 80 acres of land with a working farm.

HMIP’s ‘task of the prison’ line: a women’s open prison aiming to prepare women for resettlement through release on temporary licence (ROTL) in the community. Our categories guide explains where open prisons sit in the wider system.

HMIP

One of two dedicated open prisons for women in the country.

IMB

An open prison six miles from Maidstone and the only female open prison in the south of England. It also says the prison shares a governor with HMP/YOI Downview, a larger closed women’s prison some miles away.

HMPPS GOV.UK

An open prison and young offender institution for women aged 18 and over.

Accommodation, work and temporary release

In shortThree types of accommodation and a regime where around 82% of women had ROTL access in 2023.

• Women with ROTL access82%About, at the 2023 inspection
• Reporting a disabilityAlmost 50%
• BAME19%Of women

At the inspection in autumn 2023 the prison held 97 women. ROTL runs through the whole prison, for a wide range of purposes including paid employment, and many women had full-time paid jobs in the community.

HMIP says the success of this approach was evidenced by the number of women who kept their jobs after release.

The IMB adds that East Sutton Park is a working prison with a farm, gardens and a farm shop that is open to the public twice a week, and that women are encouraged on arrival to take responsibility for themselves, their sentence plans and their progression through education, voluntary work and, when possible, outside paid employment.

Main house

Holds up to 62 women in rooms for between one and four, with shared showers and toilets.

The Oaks

20 units allowing single occupancy and semi-independent living, each with its own shower and toilet and shared access to a communal kitchen and association room.

The Willows

Four self-contained flats holding up to four women each; all residents are in paid employment in the community, buy their own food and cook for themselves.

Services

Health, substance misuse and dental services were provided by NHS trusts, and education by Milton Keynes College.

What inspectors found in 2023

In shortInspectors found excellent outcomes: safety, respect and release planning good, purposeful activity reasonably good.

• SafetyGood
• RespectGood
• Rehabilitation and release planningGood
• Purposeful activityReasonably good

HMIP’s unannounced inspection ran from 25 September to 5 October 2023 and was the first full visit since 2016. The report, published in January 2024, graded purposeful activity ‘reasonably good’, which was down on the 2016 grade.

The Chief Inspector said the prison continued to deliver excellent outcomes. It was ‘overwhelmingly safe and respectful’, violence and self-harm were rare, and over 80% of women had ROTL access. Ofsted rated education, skills and work overall as ‘requires improvement’.

The monitors’ view, 2023 to 2025

In shortThe IMB found a generally safe prison with no serious incidents in two years and good healthcare.

• Serious incidentsNoneIn the two years
• Self-harm incidents4Also four assaults and one use of force in the two years

The IMB’s combined report for 1 November 2023 to 31 October 2025, published in March 2026, is the most recent independent account. On resettlement the Board says it is not aware of any prisoner leaving during the two years without accommodation to go to. Healthcare is described as working well and frequently praised by prisoners.

• It says the prison is generally safe for prisoners and staff, with no evidence of prevalent drug or alcohol use.
• Staff and prisoner relationships were generally good, though the Board noted friction between some prisoners, inappropriate behaviour by a minority of staff on occasion, and bullying and intimidation that at times was not addressed quickly enough, with the prison improving its response from autumn 2025.

Working here

In shortNational pay zone with no market supplement and an ‘outstanding performance’ rating; a small employer, so vacancies will be few.

• HMPPS 2025/26 rating89.4%‘Outstanding performance’ (rating 4 of 4)
• Officers in post34 FTEBand 3 to 5 officers against a target of 38, four below target (30 June 2026)

East Sutton Park is in the national pay zone and is not on HMPPS’s Band 3 market supplement list (checked 3 October 2026). It is a small employer, so vacancies will be few; we found no Prison and Probation Jobs page for it and no figure for current vacancies.

Read prison officer pay for the 2026/27 figures, and see the regional jobs guide for other Kent options. Apply via become a prison officer.