NPM Bulletin – October 2025
Welcome
Welcome to the NPM’s October bulletin.
We were deeply concerned to witness the apparent racist, misogynist and abusive behaviour demonstrated in the BBC Panorama Undercover in the Police. The treatment of some detainees while in custody at Charing Cross police station was far below the standards we expect. You can read the UK NPM’s statement here.
As we move into autumn, the team has been hard at work across a wide range of workstreams, including preparations for our National Detention and Inspection Conference. With the agenda now in the final stages, we are looking forward to welcoming colleagues from across the UK to what promises to be an engaging and collaborative event.
This month I attended the second meeting of the Scottish Ministerial Accountability Board, chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs. The NPM Steering Group also met earlier this month and had the welcome opportunity to hear from Angela O’Hagan and Eleanor Deeming about the Commission’s latest report on Access to Justice for Prisoners. The Steering Group welcomed new member Professor John Crichton. As ever, the board scrutinised my delivery of the NPM business plan and were assured by progress to date.
Following the Ministerial reshuffle, Sherry and I have a series of introductory meetings with ministers planned, and will meet with the new Policing Minister this month.
As some of you may recall, the NPM agreed to undertake a peer review process, whereby each body completes a self-evaluation based on a set of questions regarding OPCAT compliance. These responses will then be shared with a peer body for comment and review. NPM bodies can expect to receive the self-evaluation document in early November.
The NPM Annual Report is now in its final stages of a first draft, with Jane getting ready to send it out to bodies for review in the next week or so. Chelsea has been planning upcoming public seminars in Scotland on the findings of NPM bodies and is beginning to scope our new AI in Scrutiny T&F Group. Sarah has been developing the peer review approach and has updated the Dashboard with all reports, recommendations and good practices from September.
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’s next meeting will take place on 27 November. The group is currently developing three thematic sessions on human rights, deaths in detention and data in detention, which will be announced in due course. Stay tuned for updates!
The Northern Ireland Subgroup held its quarterly meeting on 16 September. The meeting focused on children in detention and included representatives of the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People. A core focus of discussion was the Justice Bill, and ongoing concerns about available accommodation for children given bail. The Subgroup will produce a submission to the Committee of Justice, and the Departments of Health and Justice, to highlight the importance of combined work by both departments urgently address the current state of accommodation, bail and remand for young people.
National Detention Monitoring and Inspection Conference
Only a few weeks to go until our all-NPM online conference in November! If you have not already done so, you can register for the conference here.
The conference will take place online on 28th November 2025 from 10:00 – 13:00.
Please continue to share the event with colleagues so as many of the 3500 OPCAT mandate-holders as possible can attend!
Blog: Reflecting on the UK NPM’s International work
In this month’s blog, Head of the UK NPM Sam Gluckstein reflects on the UK NPMs international work.
Using the Reporting Dashboard
Did you know that you can also use the Reporting Dashboard to learn from other establishments? The NPCC Custody Lead has sent the Dashboard to all Custody centres in the country as a tool for local analysis and has used the Dashboard to see what good practice exists on culture and religion policy. This is a great example of knowledge sharing between establishments! The NPM Central Team also recently published a one-pager on good practice with regards to complaints, this is another example of how the Reporting Dashboard can be used to quickly and easily identify and share examples of good practice across the NPM’s work.
Did you know that the Reporting Dashboard can tell you how many recommendations, good practices, reports and visits are published and made by NPM bodies every year?
The Reporting Dashboard has allowed us to include some of this data in the NPM’s annual report.
Over the reporting year, The UK NPM collectively published a total of 3,154 recommendations in 294 public reports. Most recommendations were made directly to the place of deprivation of liberty (2235), with 871 made to national authorities and 690 to UK or national governments. 713 examples of good practice were captured.
Recommendations are divided by thematic category, and within each category are further details about what a recommendation relates to. The most common categories of recommendation made over 2024-2025 were:
- Management, oversight and procedures
- Conditions and environment
- Safety and security
- Treatment
385 recommendations were made specifically about staffing or staff training, which remained a crucial issue across different settings as recruitment, retention and training of staff proved challenging, compromising other areas of detainees’ lives and in some case their safety.
Please let us know how you are using the Dashboard by sending us an email.
We would also greatly appreciate if NPM Bodies could link the Reporting Dashboard on their websites to help raise awareness and improve accessibility.
Briefings Series: Indeterminate Detention Regimes
This month’s bulletin kicks off our new series of briefings.
Our first briefing examines indeterminate detention in the UK, a complex and concerning area that continues to raise significant human rights implications. We hope that this series will support learning, reflection and action across NPM bodies.
Read the briefing on our website: Indeterminate Detention Regimes.
Spotlight reports from NPM bodies
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons – Children in custody 2024-25
HMIP has released its annual report on children in custody. Violence was rife across secure training centres and YOIs, and relationships between children and staff were found to be weak. High levels of keep aparts and self-isolation limited children’s ability to access education, work or training.
Read here: Children in custody 2024-25
Latest news from NPM bodies
- CJI, RQIA and HMIP have completed fieldwork for an inspection of Magilligan prison.
- Chief Inspector Jacqui Durkin and Inspector Roisin Devlin, CJI, attended the Irish Prison Service Conference on 3 October.
- HIW has launched a public consultation on its draft strategy for 2026-2030. Individuals, organisations and stakeholders across Wales are invited to take part and shape the final strategy.
- HMIP has published several inspection reports, including the annual Children in Custody report.
- IMB has published several annual monitoring reports.
- MWCS published an inspection report for HMP Low Moss.
- Ofsted has published inspection reports Aycliffe Secure Services, Clayfields House Secure Unit, Aldine House Secure Centre, Vinney Green Secure Unit.
- SHRC has published a discussion paper raising serious concerns about the use of Orders for Lifelong Restriction in Scotland, warning that 92% of OLR prisoners who have completed the “punishment part” of their sentence remain in prison because they cannot access the rehabilitation programmes needed to progress towards release.
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.
External resources of interest
Prison Reform Trust’s The Pains of Progression report reviews the progression system for long-term prisoners in Scottish prisons, revealing systemic delays, poor communication and a lack of transparency in the sentence progression process.
Unlock is hosting a 2-hour webinar, Understanding the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, introducing the legal framework surrounding criminal records disclosure. This is a paid event on 29 October or 19 December.
Child Rights International Network has published a new report that shows how all stages of the UK’s counter-terrorism system threaten children’s rights. The report calls for reforms and approaches during pre-trial, trial and sentencing processes that protect children.
On 14 October, Clinks is hosting a free webinar on Intensive Supervision Courts. This event is free, and will take place on Zoom.
Upcoming events and activities
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
28 November 2025: NPM All Mandate-Holder Conference, online
9 December 2025: NPM Northern Ireland Subgroup Q3 meeting
Thank you for reading!
This bulletin is compiled each month by the NPM Central Team. If you have any news you would like to share, please let us know.
If you would like to provide feedback on this bulletin, share your thoughts here.