Exeter Prison Contact Details, Facilities and News

HMP Exeter is a men’s prison in Devon with an operational capacity of 561. It is a ‘local prison’ holding offenders from courts in Devon, Cornwall and West Somerset. The prison was built in 1850 and currently has four residential wings housing adults and young offenders. Its regime includes exercise, work, education and courses on offending behaviour. Exeter Prison was recently in the news after the chief inspector of prisons issued the justice secretary with an urgent notification to improve the “unequivocally poor” conditions revealed by an unannounced inspection.

Exeter Prison Wings

A and C wings hold normal location inmates and the C1 landing includes accommodation for first-night prisoners. B wing houses inmates taking part in the integrated drug treatment system (IDTS) programme. D wing is a three-storey building for vulnerable inmates. F Wing provides social care, and the Jubilee Suite provides palliative care for terminally ill inmates.

Exeter Prison Facilities

There is a sports hall, weights room and multi-gym. PE sessions are available to all inmates, including circuit-training, football, weight-training and badminton. There is a multi-faith room for the use of inmates of all faiths, a full-time Anglican chaplain and part-time Catholic and Free Church chaplains. Healthcare facilities include GP services, mental healthcare, dentistry, chiropody, opticians and nurse-led clinics, and the prison healthcare manager is Jo Pring. Educational courses are delivered by Strode College and A4E, including alcohol awareness, numeracy, health and safety, NVQ in food preparation and cooking and IT ESOL. There is a library which is open from 9am to 11.30am from Monday to Friday and 2.30pm to 5pm Monday to Thursday.

Prison Inspector Takes Emergency Action Over Conditions at Exeter Prison

In May 2018, the chief inspector of prisons, Peter Clarke, used the ‘urgent notification’ protocol for the second time since it was introduced to address soaring levels of violence and self-harm at Exeter Prison. The justice secretary, David Gauke, is required to explain how conditions at the “unequivocally poor” jail will be improved. An unannounced inspection in May revealed unacceptable levels of self-harm, suicide, drug-use and assaults against inmates and staff. In his letter to the justice secretary, Clarke said: “During the inspection we saw many examples of a lack of care for vulnerable prisoners which, given the recent tragic events in the prison, were symptomatic of a lack of empathy and understanding of the factors that contribute to suicide and self-harm.”

Clarke reported a strong smell of drugs on some of the jail’s wings, with inmates seen to be “clearly under the influence”. Many cells were in a poor state, with broken windows, leaking toilets and sinks and poorly screened toilets. The justice secretary has 28 days after receiving an urgent notification to publicly report on how the prison will be improved.

Exeter Prison Contact Details

The address is 30 New North Road, Exeter, EX4 4EX. The phone number is 01392 415 650. The visits booking email address is [email protected]. The governor is Pete Elbourn.