UK government U-turn leaves prison fire safety works unresolved
Iain Hoey
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Fire safety works remain outstanding
More than 60 prisons in England and Wales were awaiting fire safety improvement works in autumn 2025 after the government dropped a commitment to make all cells compliant by the end of 2027 or remove them from use.
The Howard League for Penal Reform said documents released through a Freedom of Information Act request showed that more than 40 prisons were waiting for in-cell automatic fire detection equipment and that no replacement deadline had been set.
The prisons listed for improvement work included Stocken, Eastwood Park, Swaleside, Risley, Wealstun, Chelmsford and Holme House, where fatal fires have been recorded during the past 15 years.
Eastwood Park was among the prisons waiting for in-cell automatic fire detection equipment after Clare Dupree was fatally injured in a fire in December 2022.
An inquest jury at Avon Coroner’s Court found there had been “missed opportunities” to prevent her death and that a “lack of automatic in-cell fire detection caused a delay in detecting the fire”.
More than three years after the incident, the equipment had yet to be installed in Clare’s cell.
Enforcement notices issued across prisons
The Howard League said the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) had known for almost 20 years that tens of thousands of people in prison were being held in cells that did not meet lawful fire safety standards.
The charity said it had asked for updated lists showing how many cells were affected in each prison, when works would start and how long they would last, and that the MoJ had refused to provide them.
In October 2025, the Howard League sent pre-action letters to Eastwood Park, Norwich, Swaleside, Wandsworth and Wetherby prisons.
Works have yet to start in four of those five prisons, including Swaleside and Eastwood Park, where fatal fires took place in 2019 and 2022.
The charity also obtained records from the Crown Premises Fire Safety Inspectorate (CPFSI) covering November 2023 to October 2025.
Sixteen prisons received Crown Enforcement Notices during that period after the CPFSI identified failures to comply with fire safety legislation.
Six prisons received ‘Step Away’ notices after Crown Enforcement Notices were not complied with and the CPFSI said it would pursue a criminal prosecution if Crown immunity did not apply.
The CPFSI also said it could not provide details of any notices relating to Oakwood prison because of an ongoing investigation that may lead to criminal proceedings.
Howard League threatens legal action
Andrea Coomber KC (Hon.), Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “From chronic overcrowding and rising violence to record levels of self-harm and people being released by mistake, chaos in the prison system is rarely out of the headlines.
“Fire safety has largely remained under the radar until now.
“But the long-running detention of tens of thousands of people in fire-risk cells, and the government’s U-turn on a deadline to solve this, amount to a national scandal.
“After almost two decades of inaction by the Ministry of Justice, worried families are having to listen to yet more broken promises.
“We know that at least 11 people have died in cell fires since the government accepted its responsibility to install automatic fire detection equipment.
“How many more lives will be lost?”
The Howard League said it had threatened legal action and that the government only notified the CPFSI of its change in position after the threat of litigation.
