HMP Winchester

A Victorian prison in the city centre

In shortWinchester was built in 1849 and is a category B reception prison with a separate category C resettlement site.

• Operational capacity637Ministry of Justice August 2026 bulletin; 610 held on 24 August 2026
• Held (Feb 2026)625At the inspection; an average of 251 received each month
• Ethnic minority backgrounds33%19% were foreign nationals
• Young adults19%Aged 18 to 25 (IMB)

HMIP records that Winchester was built in 1849 and has the radial design typical of Victorian prisons, covering about six acres. A healthcare unit was added in 1908.

In 1964 a unit was built as a remand centre for young offenders; known as Westhill, it served that function until 1991, then housed women, and in 2004 became a category C resettlement unit.

GOV.UK describes it as a men's prison and young offender institution in the centre of Winchester. HMIP calls it a category B reception prison with a separate category C unit; the IMB says it serves the criminal courts of Aldershot, Basingstoke, Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Salisbury, Southampton and Winchester.

• Around 1,500 prisoners had arrived in the previous 12 months with a history of self-harm.

The February 2026 follow-up inspection

In shortProgress since the 2024 Urgent Notification, but safety and respect were not sufficiently good, purposeful activity poor and the site dilapidated.

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

HMIP's announced follow-up inspection ran from 9 to 19 February 2026 and the report was published on 26 May 2026. In 2024, when the Chief Inspector issued an Urgent Notification, three tests were poor and only preparation for release was reasonably good.

The Chief Inspector described a deteriorating, overcrowded Victorian site, a transient population with complex needs and a history of instability, but said inspectors were encouraged by progress in stabilising the prison. Ofsted judged education, skills and work inadequate across almost every measure.

Staffing, relationships and the monitors' view

In shortRelationships were often transactional and key work almost absent, with the IMB naming staffing as a priority issue.

• Officers in post191 FTEBand 3 to 5 staffing against a target of 216 at 30 June 2026
• Use of force (IMB)960Times, 40% above comparator prisons
• Resignations of operational staffDown 38%Against the previous year after targeted staff training

In the HMIP survey 73% of prisoners said staff treated them with respect.

Inspectors observed some positive interactions, particularly on the induction wing and the neurodiversity landing where the staff-to-prisoner ratio was higher, but found relationships often transactional, key work almost absent and a lack of challenge to low-level poor behaviour such as vaping in communal areas.

On staffing, HMIP said the prison had mostly recruited its quota of officers, but too many were unavailable for operational duties and sickness absence was high; safety staff were too often cross-deployed.

• The IMB's 2024-25 report (1 June 2024 to 31 May 2025, published September 2025) names staffing as a priority issue, citing officers removed for escort duties and bed watches, secondments and in-service training, and regimes disrupted as a result.
• Late deliveries of prisoners after the 8pm deadline kept staff in the prison past midnight.
• A new segregation unit build had stalled since 2022.

Working here and getting there

In shortA £2,000 a year market supplement is listed as at 3 October 2026, and no dedicated Winchester jobs page was found.

• Supplement£2,000A year, at 3 October 2026; non-pensionable
• HMPPS rating48.3%2025/26 performance rating: 'performance of serious concern'

We did not find a dedicated Winchester page on the official prison and probation jobs site as at 3 October 2026, so apply through the national route in our become a prison officer guide.

Winchester is listed on the HMPPS market supplement tables with £2,000 a year as at 3 October 2026, non-pensionable and not guaranteed beyond March 2027; see our market supplements guide and pay page.

See our jobs by region guide for comparisons.