PRT comment: IMB 2025 National Annual Report

Commenting on the findings of the Independent Monitoring Boards 2025 national annual report published today (10 June), Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

“This report underlines the importance of protecting the vital role of the IMB in providing independent scrutiny of treatment and conditions in our prisons.

“It is a stark indictment not only of the conditions in our prisons, but of a system that has repeatedly failed to act. Independent Monitoring Boards have consistently raised concerns about unsafe, degrading and ineffective conditions with successive ministers and the prison service, yet their warnings have too often been noted and ignored.

“The Sentencing Act is a welcome acknowledgement that prisons are under intolerable strain, and that we must reduce our reliance on custody. But legislation alone cannot solve the serious problems laid bare in this report.

“IMBs continue to document deeply troubling realities: people held for long periods in filthy, overcrowded cells, routine delays in accessing healthcare, broken sanitation, and men, women and children spending most of the day locked up with nothing purposeful to do. These are not isolated incidents, but recurring features of a system under extreme pressure.

“Ministers and prison leaders must now act with urgency. This means working with governors to deliver a comprehensive and credible plan to tackle the challenges they face in their prisons, so they can meet their most basic responsibilities of safety, decency and rehabilitation.”