HMP Swaleside, a Category B “training” prison on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, houses some of the nation’s most dangerous offenders.
HMP Swaleside in Kent (Image: HMP Swaleside)
Muslim gangs have effectively taken control of one of Britain’s most violent prisons, according to a disturbing series of watchdog reports. Officials have raised alarms over unchecked religious gang influence in a facility currently overwhelmed by extreme violence and systemic drug abuse.
HMP Swaleside, a Category B “training” prison on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, houses some of the nation’s most dangerous offenders. On December 15, 2025, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor issued a rare Urgent Notification, slamming the jail after an unannounced inspection conducted from December 1–11.
Mr Taylor branded conditions “dangerously unsafe,” awarding the prison a “poor” rating—the lowest possible—across all four healthy prison tests. This marks the worst overall assessment in his five-year tenure.
The Inspectorate highlighted “very high levels of violence” permeating every aspect of life at Swaleside, which now records one of the highest assault rates in England and Wales.
The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) previously noted in its October 14, 2025 report that the prison population includes a “disproportionately high level of Muslim prisoners (32%)” compared to the national prison average (approximately 18%).
The IMB report, covering May 2024 to April 2025, detailed prisoner perceptions of “widespread violence, including bullying by both prisoners and staff, as well as unchecked gang control – particularly by religious gangs – which many prisoners report feeling powerless and unsafe against”.
Staff and inmates further reported “underlying tensions between different cultural groups,” leaving many prisoners too terrified to access basic services like healthcare or the gym.
The statistical breakdown of the crisis painted a grim picture of daily life:
- Safety: 75% of prisoners reported feeling unsafe
- Initial Trauma: Six new arrivals were assaulted or stabbed on their first night at the jail in 2025
- Drug Use: Random testing showed over 50% of inmates using illicit substances, primarily cannabis and “spice”
- Confinement: 44% of inmates were locked in their cells for all but 30 minutes on weekdays, a practice Mr Taylor deemed “wholly insufficient and inhumane”
- Drones routinely smuggle in contraband, including knives, while the wings remain “filthy” with graffiti, fire damage, and mould. The IMB noted that the manufacture of bladed weapons inside the jail has become “ominous”
Mr Taylor blasted “serious failings by leaders in the Prison Service,” noting that the facility lacked a permanent governor for several months during 2024–2025. This failure triggered a mandatory requirement for the Justice Secretary to produce an improvement plan within 28 days.
Responding to the findings, Prisons Minister Lord Timpson expressed disappointment at the failing standards.
He said: “But the sad fact is we inherited a broken prison system, with too many jails like HMP Swaleside breeding further crime.”
Lord Timpson pledged that the Government would work urgently to reduce violence and stabilise the “broken” system.
