HMP Millsike Faced 7 Elite Squad Callouts in 9 Months as Ex-Staff Allege Safety Failures
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 18
HMP Millsike Faced 7 Elite Squad Callouts in 9 Months as Ex-Staff Allege Safety Failures
1 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 18
Summary
Seven deployments of specialist ORRU teams to HMP Millsike in nine months of 2025 underscore former workers' claims that the new East Yorkshire prison developed a "chaotic atmosphere" within 18 months of opening.
Six of seven former employees interviewed by the BBC cited staff shortages, while several said inadequate training left non-officer staff doing risky tasks such as watching vulnerable prisoners despite lacking prison-officer preparation.
About 1,100 inmates are now held at the 1,500-place, £400 million prison, where an IMB report in January said monitors felt unsafe on the wings and had found doors and gates left open.
Mitie said safety was its highest priority, ORRU callouts were in line with expectations, and recruitment and training matched the prison's phased growth, though it declined to disclose current vacancies.
Millsike was promoted as a model for future prisons when it opened in March 2025 and is the first of four jails tied to the government's plan to add 14,000 prison places by 2031.