The main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment and conditions of detention of women held in prison in England and Wales. To this end, the delegation visited HMP Eastwood Park and HMP Styal.
In the course of the visit, the delegation met with James Timpson, Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending. It also held consultations with Michelle Jarman-Howe, Director General of Operations, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), Alan Scott, Area Director (HMPPS), Carlene Dixon, Prison Group Director, Women’s Group (HMPPS) and Kate Davies, Director of Health and Justice, National Health Service (NHS) England as well as other senior officials from the Ministry of Justice, HMPPS and NHS England.
Consultations were also held with Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of HM Inspectorate of Prisons and his team, as well as with the Chief Executive Officers of the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Prison Reform Trust.
At the end of the visit, the delegation provided the UK authorities with its preliminary observations.
The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT: Gunda Wössner, 2nd Vice-President (Head of Delegation), Tom Daems, Imants Jurevičius, Helena Papa and Hans Wolff.
They were supported by Hugh Chetwynd, Executive Secretary of the CPT, Aikaterini Lazana and Catherine O’Baoill of the CPT Secretariat, and assisted by an expert, Marrit de Vries, forensic psychiatrist.
A sub-delegation of the CPT also examined the treatment and conditions of detention of one person convicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL)[1]. This visit was carried out on 2-3 December 2025.
[1] This specific monitoring activity of the CPT flows from an Exchange of Letters between the RSCSL and the CPT dated 20 January and 5 February 2014, and an Agreement between the United Nations and the United Kingdom Government, dated 10 July 2007.
