NPM Bulletin – September 2025
Welcome
Welcome to the September bulletin, or bienvenidos! I write to you from Perú, where I am attending a conference on Environmental Conditions of Detention in Lima, co-organised with colleagues at the University of Edinburgh.
As you will know by now, the UK NPM launched our new Reporting Dashboard last month. We are delighted that the Dashboard is now available to use. We would like to extend a sincere thanks to everyone who attended the launch event, and especially to our speakers who offered such encouraging and kind words. We have already received some extremely positive feedback on the Dashboard, and invite you to get in touch with your opinions – good or bad (but mainly good!). For those that could not attend the launch, a recorded session has now been uploaded to our YouTube channel.
After what seemed like an eternity of working on the Dashboard, normal NPM business has now resumed and work from the Business Plan 2025-26 continues at full steam. As well as coordinating the Scotland and Northern Ireland subgroups, Chelsea and Jane continue to work on several important workstreams. Chelsea recently completed the NPM’s submission to the Criminal Justice Committee’s inquiry into the harm caused by substance misuse in Scottish prisons and continues her work on data issues in deaths in custody and secure mental health transfers. Jane continues to work on our Annual Report, as well as projects related to welfare detention and social care. After a short break, Sarah has returned to the Dashboard, keeping it up to date by uploading recommendations and best practices from NPM member reports in real time. The UK NPM also continues to support our international colleagues. As well as co-hosting the Environmental Conditions of Detention conference in Lima, I recently met with colleagues from Ireland to discuss removal flights and related human rights concerns.
This month we said goodbye to our workplace interns Eline de Sagher and Catherine Moir. Eline has worked with us since April, assisting with our Annual Conference and various other workstreams, all while writing her fantastic LLM dissertation on the female prison estate in the UK. I have had a sneak peek at her work and very much look forward to sharing an excerpt in a future blog. Catherine joined us in July and has been an integral part of the team in the run-up to the launch of the Reporting Dashboard. Keep an eye out for Catherine’s upcoming blog on radicalisation in UK prisons. I sincerely thank Eline and Catherine for their enthusiasm and commitment during their time with us, and wish them all the best in their future endeavours.
As always, we encourage you to share this bulletin with your staff and volunteers so they can stay up to date with the latest NPM news. If you have received this bulletin as a forwarded email and would like to subscribe, please reply to this message.
With best wishes,
Sam Gluckstein, Head of UK NPM
National Subgroups
The NPM Scotland Subgroup met on 28 August. The subgroup agreed to a new thematic way of working around its key priorities, which include deaths in detention, persistent human rights concerns across detention settings, and systemic data management issues. The subgroup’s next meeting will take place on 27November.
The Northern Ireland Subgroup’s next meeting will be on Tuesday 16 September. This meeting will focus on issues affecting children in different settings of deprivation of liberty in Northern Ireland, as well as progressing research and awareness raising on conditions and treatment for people with personality disorder in prison and other custody settings.
Join us at the first National Detention Monitoring and Inspection Conference
Save the dates for first all-NPM conference in November have now been sent!
We would like to have as many of the 3500 OPCAT mandate holders as possible attend, so please keep sharing the event with colleagues, inspectors, monitors, custody visitors, researchers and anyone else who works or volunteers within the 21 bodies that make up the UK NPM.
The conference will take place online on 28th November 2025, from 10:00 – 13:00.
If you have not already done so, register for the conference here. Agenda to follow.
Blog: UK NPM Chair – 1 Year On
In this month’s blog, UK NPM Chair Sherry Ralph reflects on her first year in post, highlights some key work done by the UK NPM and congratulating the efforts and commitment of all NPM bodies.
Using the Reporting Dashboard
Now that the Reporting Dashboard is live, we are excited to see how it is supporting our work.
This month, Chelsea used the Dashboard as a key resource while preparing the NPM’s submission to the Criminal Justice Committee’s inquiry into the harm caused by substance misuse in Scottish prisons. Our workplace intern, Catherine, also drew on insights from the Dashboard to help shape her upcoming blog post.
Please let us know how you are using the Dashboard by sending us an email.
Spotlight reports from NPM bodies
Scottish Human Rights Commission – Access to Justice for Prisoners: The Complaints System
This new report from the SHRC finds that the current prison complaints system in Scotland is failing to meet human rights standards, leaving people in prison unable to challenge mistreatment, poor conditions or human rights violations. The report warns that the complaints process is complex and inaccessible to many people in prison. The report also reveals that many prisoners fear punishment for complaining, and that the data surrounding complaints is incomplete and not disaggregated, making accountability nearly impossible.
Read here: Access to Justice for Prisoners: the Complaints System
Ofsted – Full Inspection of Oakhill Secure Training Centre
Following an Urgent Notification issued in July, Ofsted has published an inspection report of Oakhill Secure Training Centre. The report details further the issues raised in the Urgent Notification, including staff training, leadership, use of force and safeguarding concerns.
Read here: Oakhill Secure Training Centre Full Inspection Report
Latest news from NPM bodies
- HIW has published an article discussing the use of CCTV in Independent Mental Health settings in Wales. A longstanding debate, using CCTV in these settings introduces issues regarding infringement on patients’ rights, but can be useful for analysis and reviews of patient care, allowing for improved training and learning.
- HMICFRS has published a report on police custody suites in the Metropolitan Police Service.
- HMICS published its Annual Report for 2024-25.
- HMIP has published several inspection reports, including one on court custody facilities in Lincolnshire, Leicestershire & Rutland and Northamptonshire.
- ICVA’snew article,Delays to Access for Independent Custody Visitors, discusses the importance of allowing monitors immediate access to custody. Delays to access affect the unannounced nature of custody monitoring visits, and the independence of monitors from the places being monitored.
- IMB has published several annual monitoring reports.
- MWCS published inspection reports for HMP Glenochil, The State Hospital and Rohallion Clinic.
- Ofsted has published inspection reports for Kyloe House, Lansdowne Secure Unit, Oasis Restore, Marydale Lodge, Swanwick Lodge and Oakhill Secure Training Centre – the first inspection following an Urgent Notification in July.
- SHRC has published a report on Access to Justice for Prisoners: The Complaints System. This report forms part of a wider project on Access to Justice in Scotland, and draws attention to how the prison complaints system in Scotland does not meet human rights standards on Access to Justice.
If we missed anything, or if you have a report, blog post or news story you would like to share in the next bulletin, please send us an email.
Upcoming events and activities
16 September 2025: NPM Northern Ireland Subgroup Q3 meeting, Belfast
22 September 2025: NPM Steering Group Q3 meeting, Online
9-10 October 2025: HIW will be exhibiting at the Royal College of General Practitioners Annual Conference and Exhibition, ICC Wales (Newport)
27 November 2025: NPM Scotland Subgroup Q3 meeting, location TBC
28 November 2025: NPM All Mandate-Holder Conference, online
External resources of interest
Prison Reform Trust’s Release from long-term imprisonment report highlights the need for enhanced support and policy reform to assist individuals on release after serving long-term prison sentences. Based on interviews with 20 individuals, the report details the complexities of reintegration into society.
The Howard League for Penal Reform and the Independent Provider of Special Education Advice have published an updated version of their joint guide Education inside penal detention for children in England. This is the only resource of its kind that explains the legal rights and entitlements of children with special educational needs in custody.
Penal Reform International, alongside Amsterdam Law Hub, is hosting an online discussion on lived experience in prison reform on 19 September. The event aims to facilitate knowledge-sharing, foster collaboration, and strengthen the role of people with lived experience within the prison reform movement.
Thank you for reading!
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