HMI Prisons reports on treatment and conditions in prisons and other places of detention. In our reports, we provide examples of notable positive practice that inspectors have observed while on inspection.

We define notable positive practice as:

“innovative practice or practice that leads to particularly good outcomes from which other establishments may be able to learn. Inspectors look for evidence of good outcomes for prisoners; original, creative or particularly effective approaches to problem-solving or achieving the desired goal; and how other establishments could learn from or replicate the practice.”

Inspectors will consider these three questions to decide whether something an establishment does qualifies as notable positive practice:

• Is there triangulated evidence of good outcomes for prisoners/detainees?
• Does the example show an original, creative or particularly effective approach to problem-solving or achieving the desired goal?
• Is it apparent how other establishments could learn from or even replicate the practice?

By publishing examples of notable positive practice in our reports, and as a full, searchable list on this page, we hope to share and help inform positive practice within prisons.

Examples

Notable positive practice – inspections (Excel) (59 kB)

This resource lists all examples of notable positive practice in the published reports of our inspections. This is updated monthly.

Notable positive practice – scrutiny visits (Excel) (55 kB)

This resource lists all examples of notable positive practice observed during scrutiny visits. This is updated monthly.

Letter to HM Prison and Probation Service (PDF) (294 kB)

This letter provided a summary of all examples of notable positive practice observed on our short scrutiny visits in May and June 2020.

Notable positive practice – short scrutiny visits (PDF) (162 kB)

This resource lists all examples of notable positive practice found during our short scrutiny visits programme, which ran from April to July 2020.