HMP Holme House

From category C to reception prison

In shortSince January 2025 Holme House has been a category B reception, training and resettlement prison, so the re-role matters more than the older inspection grades.

In its March 2023 inspection HMIP described the prison as a large category C training and resettlement prison for men, part of the North East prison group.

The prison's Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) says Holme House now serves the courts of Teesside and parts of County Durham, for men on remand and convicted men aged 18 and over.

The Board says the change was prompted by capacity pressure across the estate, particularly in reception prisons, and that the move was well delivered given its complexity.

• Part of the North East prison group alongside HMP Durham, HMP Kirklevington Grange and HMP Deerbolt (IMB, 2025).

Who is held and how the prison is arranged

In shortHolme House now has a fast-turnover population: a quarter of men had been there under a month in December 2025.

• PrisonersAround 1,200GOV.UK; 1,100 held at 24 August 2026 against an operational capacity of 1,123
• Under a month at Holme HouseA quarter280 men; 53% for under three months
• Arrivals300 or more a month
• Young peopleAlmost 15%Aged 18 to 25; around 170 men

GOV.UK describes Holme House as a prison for men in Stockton on Tees where around 1,200 prisoners live across self-contained residential communities, with a mix of single and double cells. It names one house block as a drugs therapeutic community and one as the vulnerable prisoners' block.

The IMB reports that an eighth house block, holding 21 prisoners, was completed in spring 2025, lifting operational capacity from 1,152 to 1,173.

• Other units named in official sources: a psychologically informed planned environment (PIPE) unit, a substance-free living unit alongside a drug recovery therapeutic community, a veterans' wing, and an in-patient healthcare unit with an end-of-life suite.
• Education is provided by Novus.
• GOV.UK lists work areas including laundry, warehouse, woodmill, joinery and upholstery, painting and decorating, textiles, printing, industrial cleaning, gardens and computer coding.

What inspectors found in 2023

In shortThe March 2023 inspection found marked improvement on 2020, but it is now three years older than the prison's current role, so treat it as history.

• SafetyReasonably good
• RespectGood
• Purposeful activityNot sufficiently good
• Rehabilitation and release planningReasonably good

HMIP's latest full inspection of Holme House was unannounced, carried out on 6 to 16 March 2023, and the report was published on 26 June 2023. At the previous inspection in 2020, all four tests had been judged insufficiently good, and the Chief Inspector said much had changed in three years.

Inspectors said the greatest improvement was in the respectful treatment of prisoners by staff, and that leaders had consulted widely with staff and prisoners.

Staff, morale and key work

In shortThe 2023 report found high morale and good retention with strong key work; the IMB's 2025 report shows a more stretched picture after the re-role.

• Prisoners saying staff respectful74%2023 survey
• Said they had a key worker94%71% at similar prisons
• Key worker helpful65%51% at similar prisons
• Key worker sessions delivered17.8%10,461 against an expected 58,660 (IMB 2025)

The 2023 report is unusually specific about staffing. Inspectors found that staff morale and understanding of the prison's priorities were higher than they usually see, and that staff retention was better than at most prisons they had recently visited.

Because of this, leaders had been required to over-recruit so that officers could be sent on detached duty to prisons with severe shortfalls, which left Holme House itself short of operational staff. See prison officer detached duty for how that works.

Working at Holme House

In shortHolme House is a public sector prison in the national pay zone with no market supplement listed on 3 October 2026, so the published national rates apply.

• Officers335 FTEAt 30 June 2026, Band 3 to 5, against a target of 357 (22 below)
• 2025/26 performance ratingGood3 of 4, score 69.4%

Holme House is a public sector prison run by HMPPS, so officers are on the national Fair and Sustainable pay structure. See prison officer pay and the pay bands explained.

The IMB's 2025 report also shows the working conditions behind those numbers. It is balanced by HMIP's 2023 finding that morale and retention were better than at most prisons.

• Capital works to roofs and showers still to be completed, and ageing site-wide CCTV.
• A Board concern about illicit items including phones entering the prison each month.
• The Board also asked whether staffing would be increased to deliver key work alongside the regime.

Getting there and visiting

In shortGOV.UK describes visitor access by rail, bus and car park; it gives no staff parking or commuting information.

The same page lists visiting sessions on Tuesday to Sunday and a visitors' centre run by the charity Nepacs. Staff candidates will not use the visits process, but it is a useful sign that the prison operates a large family-support programme.

HMIP's 2023 report singled out the prison's themed family days, for example for new fathers, and its private video-call rooms as notable positive practice.

• Thornaby, Stockton and Middlesbrough railway stations are each less than 5 miles from the prison.
• Local buses run from Stockton and Middlesbrough to the prison; there is a visitors' car park including Blue Badge spaces.
• GOV.UK points travellers to National Rail Enquiries and Traveline for journey planning, and does not give staff parking or commuting information.