An inmate at a prison in the north of England died in a fire after an alarm is thought to have failed to go off, according to a new report on the huge pressures facing the prison estate. The latest review by the Independent Monitoring Boards (IMBs) covers incidents in the carceral system across England and Wales in 2025.
Fatal incident at HMP Garth
The report highlights the death of a prisoner in a cell at HMP Garth, south-west of Leyland in Lancashire, as an example of a 'lack of working fire alarms in parts of some prisons'. The incident underscores critical safety failures within the prison system.
Pest and vermin issues
Issues with pests and vermin are also flagged at a number of prisons, including a 'severe rat infestation' at Feltham in the west London borough of Hounslow. At Bullingdon prison in Oxfordshire, there were three reports of spider bites between September and November 2025. The report says these were serious enough that 'two prisoners required hospital treatment and one was warned he could lose his leg'.
Overall prison conditions
IMB national chair Jane Leech writes that the overall picture of prisons shows 'a crumbling estate and relentless population pressures' in a year 'marked by both enduring challenges and repeated upheavals'. In her introduction, she says: 'Procedures supposed to safeguard some of society's most vulnerable people, instead frequently failed them. Seriously unwell individuals continued to be harmed by lengthy and indefinite detention. Behind closed doors, force was used disproportionately.'
Reactions from campaign groups
Andrea Coomber, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the report 'reveals the gulf between the rhetoric we hear in Westminster and the reality we see in overwhelmed and under-resourced jails up and down the country'. She said the campaign group had been 'sounding the alarm for many years, but that governments have been 'too slow to respond to the warning signs and too eager to add to the sentence inflation that has brought the system to the brink of collapse'.
Young Offender Institutes
The new IMB report also highlights issues at several of the Young Offender Institutes in England and Wales, which hold young men aged 15 to 21. It found 'many boys' carried weapons, with particular concern over those made using 'sharp pieces of metal taken from laptop components'. At Feltham, 50 weapons were found in August alone – despite the facility only holding a population of around 100 boys.
Government response
Prisons Minister Lord Timpson said: 'We have seen positive improvements across the estate thanks to strong leadership, but we know more needs to be done. Whether it's keeping the public safe by creating 3,000 more prison places, investing over half a billion in vital maintenance and security, or recruiting hundreds more officers, we are pulling every lever to turn the tide. To meet the challenge, our landmark sentencing reforms, alongside £4bn for 14,000 new prison places by 2031, will ease pressure, and we are tackling violence and drugs behind bars with over £40m invested in physical security to clamp down on contraband.'
