“A system stuck in decline: failures pile up, reality falls short of rhetoric, and meaningful change remains elusive”

The 2025 national annual report has been published this June 2026. It covers an assessment of the adult prison and youth estate and reports that Independent Monitoring Boards from across the country have found a consistent and deeply troubling picture: long standing failures have not been resolved but, instead are becoming standard presentations of a situation. instead being compounded. Many of the most serious concerns identified in this report mirror those raised repeatedly in IMB annual reports over the past decade.

Read the report here

Reflection on and in practice is promoted in nursing, with numerous models of reflection and tools available for people to use to help guide their thinking. Professor Liz Walsh, Royal College of Nursing Professional Lead for the Nurses in Justice and Forensic Healthcare Forum has devised a model of reflection specifically for nurses working in the prison.

Given the significant impact of the prison environment and culture on nursing practice, this model of reflection encourages prison nurses to consider the human factors at play in any practice experience they reflect on.

This model of reflection has three stages:

1. Exploration of Human Factors (human interactions and self/individual factors).
2. Consideration of learning, both individual and system.
3. Next steps/actions which consider both personal and systemic levels.

Find out more here

The Inquiry report for Muckamore Abbey Hospital has been published. It highlights systemic failures in the health and social care system, particularly in Northern Ireland.

The report’s findings include: A closed culture amongst staff which discouraged reporting of poor behaviour and unsafe staffing, systematic abuse of patients which was not addressed despite being uncovered by CCTV in 2017, governance failures, inadequate investment in resettlement processes and ineffective external inspection regimes that failed to uncover abuse.

Overall, the report describes a “profound and deeply troubling” catalogue of failures, confirming widespread abuse and serious governance breakdowns. It makes 106 recommendations for reform across staffing, safeguarding, oversight, and learning‑disability services.

Read the report here

An Academic Insights Report by HM Inspectorate of Probation

A new HM Inspectorate of Probation Academic Insights paper explores how Human Learning Systems (HLS) could transform probation services — and suggests why the current model is holding the system back.

The report argues that probation operates in deep complexity: people’s lives, relationships, risks, and contexts shift constantly and that standardised, target‑driven approaches simply can’t keep pace. The shift towards HLS requires a different leadership mindset where team growth is prioritised, supporting relational, personalised practice and space for reflection, experimentation and adaptation.

Read the paper here

A new Nuffield Trust analysis sheds light on why people in prison attend A&E — and the findings are both striking and important for anyone working in health, justice, or community services.

The findings underline the deep health inequalities faced by people in prison — and the need for better prevention, continuity of care, and collaboration between prison healthcare, emergency departments, and community services.

Read the report here

The University of Manchester are hosting an event on Tuesday 24 March 2026, from 14:00–15:00 at a venue in central Westminster. An expert panel will discuss health and care in custody, and practical steps that could help raise standards across the prison estate.

Healthcare in prison is a human right, with the ‘principle of equivalence’ in the UK intended to ensure prisoners are afforded healthcare consistent with the quality and standard as that provided to the general population. In practice, however, systemic shortcomings in the prisons system are leaving prisoners with substandard care, with the needs of older and women prisoners particularly critical.

This event builds on The System and the Cell, a new report from the Social Market Foundation, sponsored by Policy@Manchester – The University of Manchester’s policy engagement unit. Grounded in leading academic research and informed by firsthand insights from those working within the system, the report sheds light on the systemic challenges in prison health and sets out clear, evidence-led recommendations for reform.

This session will be chaired by Dr Rebecca Montacute, Research Director at the Social Market Foundation.  Confirmed panellists include Dr Katrina Forsyth, Senior Research Fellow at The University of Manchester, with further speakers to be confirmed.

 You can register to attend by providing your details here, or by emailing policy@manchester.ac.uk

Interconnecting Health and Justice

Thursday 8th & Friday 9th October 2026 at The Midland, 16 Peter Street, Manchester

Over two days, we will explore how health needs shape justice outcomes and justice systems shape health outcomes. With a solution-focused goal, we will examine learning from the UK and international systems and give a platform to the latest research aligned with the key themes of the Summit.

Key themes this year are:

• Health as a determinant of justice involvement
• Justice involvement as a determinant of health
• Health as a pathway to diversion, rehabilitation, and desistance
  Legal frameworks that protect health rights
• Public health and criminal justice partnerships
• Addressing structural inequalities, severe multiple disadvantage, and wider determinants of health

The UK Health security Agency (UKHSA) is working to build awareness of tuberculosis (TB) in English prisons given several recent deaths in custody from TB. TB is curable and with early detection and treatment these deaths could have been preventable. People with a history of imprisonment have a rate of TB four times higher than the general population. TB incidents and outbreaks in prisons pose a significant health risk for staff and prisoners, while also causing operational disruptions and placing a heavy demand on resources. 

To help combat TB in prisons UKHSA has taken the following actions:

• Delivered a national awareness raising webinar for prison and health staff encouraging them to ‘think TB’; this webinar is available to watch here.
• Developed and published bespoke TB resources for prisons, including information on risks, symptoms and continuity of TB treatment. These are available here.
• On 9th October 2025 newly refreshed national TB guidance for prisons and places of detention will be published. On the 17^th November a new verbal reception screening process for TB will also be introduced in all prisons. 

Further recommendations and resources for those who want to develop, support or deliver services for inclusion health groups and those affected by tuberculosis is available in a toolkit. 

Access the toolkit here.

We are thrilled to share the winning poster submissions from the 11th Health and Justice Summit (2024)

Best quality improvement – ADHD Pathway by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust

Best patient safety – Patient safety in prison mental healthcare in England

Assessing the risk factors

The latest report published in August 2024 by the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody (IAPDC) which identifies risk factors associated with premature mortality – and particularly suicide – among patients detained under the Mental Health Act.