HMP The Mount in Bovingdon rated as one of the worst prisons in the country

118 prisons have their scores listed in the government’s Annual Prison Performance Ratings.

And the Bovingdon 
prison is one of only 16 to get the worst-available score of Serious Concern.

The Mount was visited by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons in April, and the subsequent report made a wide range of criticisms.

These included an increase in violent incidents, and too many prisoners taking drugs.

However there were 
improvements in inmates’ 
living conditions, and all 
prisoners now have a key worker.

The 2019 visit was a review of progress rather than a full inspection. The last full 
inspection was in 2018, when The Mount was found to have got worse in all four key 
categories – Safety, Respect, Purposeful activity, and 
Rehabilitation and release planning.

The Mount is a Category C training and resettlement prison, with capacity for about 1,000 prisoners. This category means that prisoners are not suitable for an open prison, although they are not expected to try to escape.

Opened in the late 1980s, it is a relatively modern facility; 
most of its inmates are 
serving long sentences for 
serious offences.