Inmates 'repeatedly' held in cells due to staffing

Michelle Welsh MP said she had seen signs of progress during visits, but still had "huge concerns" about Lowdham Grange

Prisoners at a troubled jail in Nottinghamshire have repeatedly been held in their cells "due to staffing levels", new figures have shown.

Data released by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) following a Freedom of Information request by the BBC show HMP Lowdham Grange has been reduced to a "domestic regime" 25 times in the last two years because of workplace shortages.

The prison has been heavily criticised in recent years following a string of deaths, with inspectors finding violence had increased in a report released in June.

Michelle Welsh, the Labour representative for Sherwood Forest, said she had raised concerns with the MoJ, which said it was working hard to fix the "serious issues".

Three prevention of future deaths reports have been issued following fatalities at the prison since 2021

HMP Lowdham Grange was run by private company Serco for more than 20 years until 16 February 2023, when control was handed over to Sodexo in the first transfer of a jail between private providers in England and Wales.

The MoJ took over running the prison in December that year, initially on a temporary basis but was later confirmed to be a permanent move.

Three prevention of future deaths reports have been issued following inquests in recent years, including into the death of Kane Boyce in 2021 and three deaths that took place in March 2023.

Two more inquests into deaths at the prison in 2023 are set to take place this year, with another nine deaths in 2024 and 2025 also due to be examined by a coroner.

After being asked about the number of times prisoners were locked in their cells for extended periods of time, the MoJ said there were 25 instances in the three years up to 23 July 2025 when the jail was placed on "domestic regime due to staffing levels".

While some prison-wide lockdowns were put in place for cell searches, and events such as the Queen's funeral and the 2022 World Cup had led to altered regimes and delays in unlocking prisoners, the instances citing staffing levels as the criteria began from 17 August 2023, when the prison was run by Sodexo.

A total of 16 such regime changes - or lockdowns - have taken place since 2024, one of which lasted for five days from 7 June.

Anthony Binfield was one of three prisoners to die in the jail in March 2023

Welsh said she had visited the prison with the current governor, Tyrienna Greenslade, who arrived in March this year, and had seen "some progress" but was still worried about conditions in the jail, and had written to the justice secretary in her bid to get "more urgency" on dealing with Lowdham's problems.

"I've still got huge, huge concerns with regards to what's going on in [the] prison, not only for the inmates but also for the staff," she said.

"I receive regular correspondence from inmates and inmates' relatives with regards to concerns about what's going on in the prison, [and] I'm also concerned about information that's been received recently about double shifts, about prison officers having to work and take a lot more prisoners than they should have to do."

Welsh said problems inside the prison were "everything that you could imagine", including issues with drugs, staffing levels and allegations of racism.

"I have met with the governor, [and] some of those issues have been resolved, but this is an ongoing crisis within there, and we need direct action," she said.

In a statement, the MoJ said: "The government is gripping the prison crisis it inherited, and progress is being made at HMP Lowdham Grange since we took it over, with strengthened safety measures and better support for prisoners at risk of self-harm.

"We are also stepping up efforts to tackle drugs and improve security."