The Definitive Prisons Web Site
Trusted By Experts
“An Excellent Site” Michael Spurr
CEO HMPPS 2010-2019
“Impressively Comprehensive” Phil Wheatley former Director General
HM Prison Service
“Recommended Without Hesitation” Tony Hassall,, Commissioner Correctional Services Western Australia
“Sets The Benchmark for Excellence” Sir Martin Narey, Director General National Offender Management Service
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By Mark Leech
Editor of The Prison Oracle
THE PRISON ORACLE: BACK STORY
In May 2018, having spent hours on the internet trying to locate a copy of The Woolf Report for some research I was doing, and having had to give up exasperated at my inability to find it, I had lightbulb moment.
One place, where everything on prisons was brought together, that was user-friendly, time-saving, comprehensive, totally independent, and where full access cost less than a cup of coffee a week; The Prison Oracle was born.
Fifteen months later, in October 2019, the dream became reality when The Prison Oracle opened its cyber doors and won outstanding reviews from those who have spent a lifetime working and living in prisons.
The Prison Oracle now has over 10,000 members, it covers 44,000 pages, it employs over a dozen ex offender page editors who keep the site up to date – and yes it contains a copy of The Woolf Report, along with almost every other valuable and vintage publication on prisons going right back to The State of The Prisons published by John Howard in 1777.
What’s on The Prison Oracle?
The Prison Oracle is the definitive comprehensive prisons website for prisons in England and Wales – giving you the most comprehensive, up-to-date information on every single one of the 118 Prisons and Young Offender Institutions in England and Wales – check out an example prison page here – including the latest IMB and HMIP Inspection Reports, fatal incident reports on those who have died in this prison – all immediately on publication – and in addition you get all this too….
RECEPTION TO RELEASE. 100’s of pages of detailed, up-to-date policy information on:
- Early Days in Custody
- Offending Behaviour Programmes
- Criminal Cases Review Commission
- Requests and Complaints
- Prisoner Communications
- Drugs and Alcohol in Prison Institutions
- The Prison Disciplinary System
- Support – Who Can Help?
- Healthcare
- Religion
- Equality Age, Gender, Disability & Race
- Social Security and Discharge Grants
- Release and Recall
- Indeterminate Sentences
- Women Prisoners
- Young Offenders (18-21 year olds)
- Young People (15-17 year olds)
- Foreign Nationals
- Disability in Prison
- Employment, Training & Skills
- Work and Pay
- Incentives and Earned Privileges
- Civil Partnerships & Equal Marriage
- Elderly Prisoners
- Segregation
- Security categorisation
- Repatriation to the UK (Post Brexit)
THE VIEW FROM HERE Articles and opinion on prison issues by experts in their field
PRISON STAFF
This Section is about prison staff:
How to join
Prepare for interview
Go through training
Details of the new Level 3 Custody and Detention Prison Officer Apprenticeship that takes 12-18 months to complete and replaces the former Prison Officer Entry level Training (POELT) Course – and for those who wish to advance we set out details of the Justice Leaders Course that, for those who aspire to be tomorrows leaders today in either Prison or Probation service, results in a Master’s Degree and its graduate owner already well on their way up to senior management.
WATCHDOGS
Independent bodies that have a duty to Inspect and Monitor the criminal justice system
Criminal Justice Joint Inspections – hundreds of Joint Inspection Reports, from 2000 to date
HM CPS Inspectorate – 350 Inspection reports divided into: Area Assurance, Area, Annual and Audit, and Ad Hoc Reports
IMB Reports – thousands of Independent Monitoring Board Annual Reports on every prison and YOI in the country, from 2009 to date
NPM Reports– Key Documents and details of all 21 statutory organisations that make up the National Preventive Mechanism
PPO Reports – thousands of death in custody reports, fully cross-referenced you won’t find anywhere else and right up to date
HM Prisons Inspectorate Reports – over 1,00 prison and YOI inspection reports- and their Thematic Reviews too, from 2005 to date
HM Probation Inspectorate Reports – over 1,500 Probation Inspectorate reports – and their Thematic Reviews too right up to date
NEWS DESK Breaking News on prisons as it happens Latest Rules, Reports & Policies as they are issued
PRISONERS & THE LAW 2025
The law relating to prisoners is complex, their rights depend on their status as remand or convicted prisoners, as adults or young offenders, male or female – or transgendered – and also their sentence length and security categorisation. This section, edited by prison law Barristers, examines prisoners and the law and gives you:
- Prisons Legal Cases Database – Instant access to over 1,400 court judgments in legal cases brought both by prisoners and officers.
- Introduction to the Law & Prisoners rights
- A-Z Subject Index- Instant access to 400 Prison Law subjects, in A-Z format from ‘Access to Justice’ to ‘Zoonotic Infections
- Criminal Appeals
- Prisons Legal Cases Database
- The Sentencing Act 2020
- Introduction to the Law & Prisoners
- Prison Rules 1999 (Correct to date)
- A-Z Index of over 400 prison law subjects
- Parole Board Rules 2019 (Correct to date)
- Appeals
- Websites of Interest
- Young Offender Institution Rules 2000 (Correct to date)
CRIMINAL CASES REVIEW COMMISSION DATABASE
Fed up with searching for CCRC cases referred to the Court of Appeal, the case details, why they were referred and the outcome of the case? Well now you don’t have to – it’s all here on our full CCRC Database of over 400 cases.
PARLIAMENTARY JUSTICE SELECT COMMITTEE
Containing links to almost 1,000 Published Reports and Evidential Correspondence from the Parliamentary Justice Select Committee, from Parliamentary Sessions for every year right back to 2002-2003
PRESS RELEASE DATABASE Containing Press Releases issued by
G4S – the private prison company going back to 2009
HM Prison & Probation Service going back to 2014
Ministry of Justice – over 1,500 press releases, going back to 2009
Parole Board – all Parole Board press releases going back to 2013
Prisons & Probation Ombudsman – containing almost 100 ‘Learning Lessons Bulletins’ and Media releases, and our Deaths in Custody Database carries over 2,300 of the PPO’s Fatal Incident Reports, set out by year, and by individual establishment, and by the name of the deceased – something you do not get anywhere else.
Probation Inspectorate – over 650 press releases, from 2013 to the present day
Serco – press release by the private prison company Serco
Sodexo – press release by the private prison company Sodexo
FACTS & FIGURES
- Anti-corruption
- Awards & Prizes
- Banged Up Abroad: Packs
- Basic Custody Screening Tool
- Community Performance Quarterly
- Cost per Prisoner Place 2015-present
- Counter Terrorism Statistics
- Crime Statistics
- Criminal Justice Quarterly
- Civil Justice Quarterly
- Forthcoming Publications
- Freedom of Information Act Releases
- Freedom of Information Act Database 2012- present
- Freedom of Information Act Database 2005-2012
- Guidance Database
- Healthcare in Prison
- HMPPS Annual Digest
- HMPPS Annual Offender Equalities
- HMPPS Other Corporate Reports
- HMPPS Annual Staff Equalities
- Incident Management
- Knife and Crime Sentencing Database
- Legal Aid Statistics Database
- Justice Data Lab Stats
- Law Commission Database
- MAPPA Annual Reports
- MAPPA Policies, Papers & More
- MOJ Service Specifications
- Offender Management Statistics 2010-present
- Parliamentary Questions
- Parole Board
- Parole Board – Reconsideration Mechanism
- Payment by Results Statistics – Final
- Prison Performance Ratings
- Prison Population 2010 to Present
- Prison Estate
- Probation Reform
- Proven Reoffending 2009-Present
- Proven Reoffending Tables 2000-2011
- Race and the Criminal Justice System
- Regional Reducing Reoffending Plans
- Research Briefings
- Safety in Custody Quarterly Bulletin
- Safety in the children and young people secure estate
- Secure video calls with prisoners
- Serious Further Offences
- Terrorism
- Violence Reduction
- Women and the Criminal Justice System
- Workforce Quarterly Bulletin
- MOJ Workforce Annual Monitoring
- YJB Reports
- Youth Justice Reports
- Youth Justice Statistics from 2008
CONVERSE
The largest circulation national monthly prisons newspaper, and the only one edited and published 100% by reformed offenders is available online to Enhanced and Corporate subscribers of The Prison Oracle – and our archives back to 2007 too!
INSTRUCTIONS, ORDER AND POLICY FRAMEWORKS
Instant access to all Prison Service Instructions, Orders, and Policy Frameworks that are currently in force – updated daily
RESEARCH REPORTS & VINTAGE PUBLICATIONS
Instant access to valuable research publications:
- The Prisons Handbook 2025
- The Cell Companion 2025
- Prison Law Index 2025
- Converse Newspaper
- Converse Archive
- Vintage & Valuable Publications
- The State of The Prisons: John Howard (1777)
- Prison Commissioners: First 20 years
- Prison Commissioners Database
- The Punishment and Prevention of Crime 1885
- English Prisons Today 1922
- English Prisons Under Local Government 1922
- Penal Discipline 1922
- The Du Parcq Report 1932
- The Mountbatten Report 1966
- The Radzinowicz Report 1968
- The May Report 1979
- Frightened For My Life – An Account of Deaths in British Prisons 1982
- The Maze Prison Escape 1983
- Managing The Long-Term Prison Population 1984
- The Woolf Report 1991
- The Wymott Prison Riot 1993
- The Learmont Report 1994
- The Woodcock Report 1995
- The Carter Report 2003
- The Zahid Mubarek Report 2006 Vol 1
- The Zahid Mubarek Report 2006 Vol 2
- The Corston Report 2007
- The Bradley Report 2009
- The IMB Karen Page Report 2014
- The Harris Review Report 2015
- The Dame Sally Coates Report 2016
- The Farmer Report For Men 2017
- The Lammy Report 2017
- Mental Health in Prisons Report 2017
- The Farmer Report for Women 2019
- Farmer Report Update
- Black Drugs Review Report 2020
- Black Drugs Review Report 2021
- Kerslake Commission on Rough Sleeping parts 1 &2
- Terrorism in Prison Report, Jonathan Hall KC, April 2022
- The Angiolini Report Part 1, Elish Angiolini KC, February 2024
- Prison Governor’s Journal, Brendan O’Friel, June 2024
- The Henley Report: The CCRC and Andrew Malkinson, July 2024.
GOVERNING GOVERNORS & PGDs
Current list of Governing Governors, Prison Group Directors for all prisons and YOIs and Area Executive Directors for prisons and probation
PERSONAL INJURY IN PRISON
With violence in prisons at record levels we make this important section free to all – an expert explanation of personal injury in prison by James Maxey Chief Executive of Express Personal Injury solicitors writes on on the rights and routes to claim compensation for personal injury sustained in prison where the injury was caused by no fault of the person injured.
New content is added every day!
What people say about The Prison Oracle
‘An Excellent Site”
Michael Spurr, Chief Executive HMPPS 2010-2019
‘Impressively Comprehensive’
Phil Wheatley, Director General HM Prison Service
‘Recommended without any hesitation’
Tony Hassall Commissioner: Corrections Western Australia
‘A terrific service! Imagine if MOJ itself were this helpful and competent!”
Julian Le Vay: Former Finance Director HM Prison Service for England & Wales
‘The Go-To Place for everything prison-related’
Richard Rowley MD: Census Life
‘Way better and faster than the HMPPS Intranet’
Brian Levine Custodial Manager: HMPPS
‘I can now download all the things I need in minutes’
Maureen Jenson: Prison Librarian
‘Excellent, every IMB Member should subscribe to this’
Paul Johnson: Independent Monitoring Board Member
‘Worth every single penny’
David Breakspear: former Long-Term, Prisoner
‘Needed for years’
Michael Brown: former Long-Term Prisoner
‘OMG Saved me hours of endless searching’
Vicky Partington: wife of IPP Prisoner
‘The best £2.50 a week I’ve ever spent’
Jeanne McCudden: mother of a Young Offender
‘Prisons org uk – you’ve done it again – brilliant’
Ashraf Patel: brother of a sister in prison
‘This is fantastic, I’ve just signed up and it’s so useful – thank you!’
Tammy Banks (Linkedin)
‘I’m blown away with what is available on The Prison Oracle”’
@Areformedman (Twitter)
“I’ve spent considerable time perusing the extensive content and found it to be an incredibly useful source. What I like best about it, is the idea that the information is there at your fingertips, without the need to trawl through page after page of internet content. The site is user friendly and easy to navigate. I also think it would lend itself well to an app for even more ease of use. The back catalogue of Converse was another nice surprise as skimming through past editions reminds me of fast-paced developments within the prison estate, some of which have completely slipped my mind. Overall, for anyone interested in prisons, this is most certainly a valuable and convenient source.”
Jo Prescott, Lecturer in Criminology & PhD candidate (@Joprescott8)
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