HMP & YOI Hindley

From borstal to category C resettlement prison

In shortHindley opened as a borstal in 1961 and is now a category C training and resettlement prison and young offender institution with an operational capacity of 600.

The Chief Inspector describes a prison built in the early 1960s and extended in the late 1980s that was ‘showing its age’.

Today it is a category C training and resettlement prison, and a young offender institution, for adult and young adult men.

The IMB’s 2025 annual report says it now accommodates men serving life and IPP sentences alongside its original target group of men with up to four years left to serve, and that a third of prisoners stay three months or less. HMPPS’s August 2026 figures give an operational capacity of 600.

Who is held and the wings

In shortA young, fast-moving population drawn from Liverpool and Manchester, in older wings plus a 10-bed Prep-PIPE unit.

• Held, December 2023593
• Arrivals / releases a month~60 / ~45
• On licence recall27%Just over a third were young adults; 31 serving life or indeterminate sentences

Inspectors described a population with many known links to organised criminal gangs, sitting almost equidistant between Liverpool and Manchester, and drawn from both conurbations.

Wings A to D

The oldest, holding roughly 75 to 84 men each.

E wing

Up to 131 men.

F wing

The induction unit.

Acorn Prep-PIPE

A 10-bed unit jointly funded by the NHS and HMPPS and, according to the IMB, the only category C unit of its kind in the country, forming part of the offender personality disorder pathway.

Segregation unit

Completes the site.

The December 2023 inspection

In shortOutcomes unchanged and weak, with officer attrition in the national top 10 and the highest drug-test positive rate in England and Wales.

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

HMIP’s unannounced inspection in December 2023 (report published 12 March 2024) was its first full inspection since 2017. Of 12 key concerns, six were priorities.

On staffing the Inspectorate was direct. The rate of attrition of officers was in the top 10 of prisons nationally, many left within their first year, and more than 40% of basic-grade officers had less than one year’s experience (58% had under two).

It said this very inexperienced group was managing a challenging population and lacked confidence to challenge poor behaviour.

The August 2024 review visit

In shortReported violence fell and officer relationships improved, but drug testing stayed the highest in the country and this is the latest HMIP report we found.

• Concerns reviewed8Reasonable progress on 3, insufficient on 5
• Prisoner assaults-21%Compared with the same period before the inspection
• Assaults on staff-43%Both remained high
• Drug tests positive59%Over six months; still the highest in the country

HMIP returned on 5 to 7 August 2024 for an independent review of progress (published 16 September 2024). Ofsted found reasonable progress on two themes and insufficient progress on one.

This is the latest HMIP report we could find for Hindley, so the picture is over two years old.

IMB annual report for 2025 and expansion plans

In shortThe IMB was ‘increasingly concerned’ about safety, and describes plans to extend the prison from 600 to 1,341 men.

• Assaults, 2024 to 202548 to 70Second-quarter peak
• Planned capacity600 to 1,341Re-scoped in March 2025 to 741 additional places
• Construction startDecember 2026Expected, after enabling works (IMB)

The IMB’s report for 1 January to 31 December 2025, published in April 2026, said the Board was ‘increasingly concerned’ that the prison did not always feel safe.

It said extended lockdowns, caused by staff absence and too few activity spaces, could leave men in cells for up to 23 hours a day, despite successful bids for incentivised overtime funding.

• Several short-term secondments and temporary promotions in senior posts.
• Four strategic priorities for 2025/26, including staff development.
• Operational capacity was reduced to 582 in November 2025 while fire detection improvements were carried out, due to finish by March 2026.

Working at Hindley

In shortA public-sector prison on the national Band 3 pay scale, with no market supplement listed as at 3 October 2026.

Hindley is a public-sector prison on the national Band 3 pay scale, with no market supplement listed on the HMPPS pay page as at 3 October 2026. The pay hub and prison officer pay bands guide give the 2026/27 figures.

• We found no establishment-specific recruitment page on the Prison and Probation Jobs site; apply through the national route in becoming a prison officer.
• The inspection evidence suggests an environment with a young, churning population and an officer team that has been very new.
• Our guides to prison categories and prison officer jobs by region help you compare it with other category C and resettlement options in the North West.