{"id":7428,"date":"2026-04-13T11:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=7428"},"modified":"2026-04-13T11:55:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:55:16","slug":"new-report-finds-too-few-prisoners-benefit-from-exercise-and-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/2026\/04\/13\/new-report-finds-too-few-prisoners-benefit-from-exercise-and-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW REPORT FINDS TOO FEW PRISONERS BENEFIT FROM\u00a0EXERCISE\u00a0AND SPORT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A new report published by HM Inspectorate of Prisons has found that those in custody have limited access to physical activity in prison &#8211; despite its proven ability to help fitness, mental health, improve relationships and behaviour &#8211; and support rehabilitation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Inspectors found that around 18% to 25% of men in prison could not use the gym or play sport in their jail, whilst this figure rose to 28% in women\u2019s jails.\u00a0Only 13% of men in prison &#8211; and 15% of women in prison &#8211; said that they could access opportunities for physical activity more than five times a week and many had little or no access to the gym on weekends &#8211; despite no other activities being on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report did, however, find some examples of positive practice, such as that of HMP Hatfield, where team games were organised during weekends and weekday evenings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>HM Chief Inspector Charlie Taylor concluded:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cMany jails have worked hard to increase access and encourage a wider range of prisoners to visit the gym by establishing varied and imaginative programmes. Too few prisoners, however, remain unable to benefit from them. I hope prisons will learn from what the best are doing and that the prison service will make use of the evidence we provide in this report to improve provision.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To read the full report,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk\/our-reports\/?listing_search=&amp;publication_typeyear=74&amp;detention_type=0&amp;report_themes=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">click here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new report published by HM Inspectorate of Prisons has found that those in custody have limited access to physical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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