HMP Garth

Role in the long-term and high-security estate

In shortA category B prison in the long-term and high-security estate, opened in 1988, next to HMP Wymott, with a third prison planned on the adjacent site.

• Opened1988
• Operational capacity807IMB 2025; seven residential wings and a care and separation unit
• Held, 24 August 2026791HMPPS monthly figures

HMP Garth is, in the Inspectorate’s words, a category B male establishment that is part of the long-term and high-security estate directorate. It holds a complex population, mainly convicted adults serving more than four years and men on indeterminate sentences. The IMB adds that it also holds long-term and life-sentenced prisoners.

Next door

Garth stands next to HMP Wymott near Leyland. The IMB says the two prisons are adjacent and, in its 2024-25 report, describes a site deemed suitable for a third prison.

New prison

The Wymott IMB records that a new prison for up to 1,700 prisoners was approved in December 2024. A construction trade report dated 1 September 2026 (secondary source) calls it HMP Garth 2, a category C prison with completion targeted for 2031.

Getting there

The IMB describes the setting as rural, with no direct mainline rail connection and infrequent local buses from Preston, Leyland and Chorley, with ample parking and reliable taxis.

Who is held and the specialist units

In shortA high-risk, long-sentence population in single cells, with several specialist therapeutic and recovery units.

• Held, 2024 inspection816
• High or very high risk of harm96%
• Long sentences86%Serving 10 years or more; 38% of them on indeterminate sentences
• Category C19%36% identified as having a physical or mental disability

Nearly all prisoners were in single cells. The IMB reports a growing group of men over retirement age: 4.5% in November 2024 and 4.7% by November 2025.

• The Beacon unit, offering the offender personality disorder pathway.
• Building Hope, a psychologically informed therapeutic environment.
• A drug recovery unit.
• A residential support unit for vulnerable prisoners.
• F and G wings, which hold men convicted of sexual offences.
• An incentivised substance-free living unit, introduced since; the IMB reports a new upholstery workshop opened in its 2024-25 reporting year.

The 2024 inspection

In shortA ‘disappointing’ inspection: noticeably less safe than in 2022, with staffing at the centre of the problems.

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

HMIP inspected without notice from 29 July to 8 August 2024 (report published November 2024). The Chief Inspector called it ‘disappointing’: assaults had risen by around 45%, and 63% of prisoners said drugs were easy to get. Ofsted rated education, skills and work ‘inadequate’.

Eight of 14 concerns were priorities, and the first was the very high number of staff who could not be deployed because of sickness, temporary promotion or training.

The May 2025 review visit

In shortA better regime and less officer sickness, but no meaningful progress on drugs or support for vulnerable prisoners.

• Concerns followed up6Review of progress, 12 to 14 May 2025 (published 16 June 2025)
• Good progress1Access to health services
• Reasonable progress2Leadership and living conditions
• Insufficient / none1 / 2No meaningful progress on drugs and support for vulnerable prisoners

Ofsted found reasonable progress in two of four education themes.

IMB annual report, December 2024 to November 2025

In shortThe IMB said staffing ‘remains a concern’, though more officers had two or more years’ service.

The IMB’s report, published in April 2026, said staffing ‘remains a concern’: the number of officers with two or more years’ service had increased, but high sickness and restricted duties reduced the staff available and increased cross-deployment. These are the Board’s observations rather than HMPPS statistics.

• The reduction in less experienced officers was a positive development.
• Violence stayed high, more prisoners were testing positive for drugs and more sophisticated drones were being used.
• 350 prisoners moved out of Garth and 104 were released in the year.
• Education funding fell by about £400,000.
• Between 40% and 50% of officers remained reluctant to use body-worn video cameras.

Working at Garth

In shortA public-sector prison on the national Band 3 pay scale, not listed in the HMPPS market-supplement tables as at 3 October 2026.

Garth is a public-sector prison on the national Band 3 pay scale and, as at 3 October 2026, is not listed in the HMPPS market-supplement tables.

• Our pay hub and prison officer pay bands guide show the 2026/27 figures.
• We found no establishment-specific recruitment page on the Prison and Probation Jobs site, so vacancies are found through the national route set out in becoming a prison officer.