HMP Low Newton: The Women’s Prison in County Durham

Last reviewed: July 2026

Quick answer: HMP & YOI Low Newton is a closed women’s prison at Brasside, on the edge of Durham, holding around 300 women — remand and sentenced, from short sentences through to life. It serves courts across the North East and includes healthcare, education and specialist units for women with complex needs. Visits must be booked ahead and adult visitors need photo ID.

About the prison

Low Newton is the North East’s main women’s prison, sitting alongside HMP Frankland at Brasside, a couple of miles north of Durham city. It takes women straight from court — often in crisis, and often for short periods on remand — as well as women serving long and indeterminate sentences, which makes it a complex place to run. Like all women’s prisons, its population carries high levels of trauma, mental ill-health and substance dependency, and the regime is built around stabilising women in the first days, then moving them into education, work and support programmes.

Key facts

Detail	Information
Type	Closed women’s prison and young offender institution
Population	Around 300 women — remand and sentenced, including lifers
Location	Brasside, Durham DH1 5YA (next to HMP Frankland)
Specialist provision	Healthcare and mental-health support, units for complex needs, education and vocational training
Getting there	Short taxi or bus ride from Durham city and rail station
Progression	Suitable women move on to open conditions, most commonly HMP Askham Grange

Visits and keeping in touch

Social visits are pre-booked through the prison’s booking service; every adult visitor needs approved photo ID, and children must be accompanied. The visitor centre can advise on assisted-visit funding for low-income families. Money is sent free via the GOV.UK service; letters and photos go by post (mail may be photocopied for security) and prisoners phone out to approved numbers. Property cannot be handed over at visits — see our guide to what you can send someone in prison.

Support inside

Low Newton’s healthcare provision is significant because of the needs it serves: primary care, substance-misuse treatment and mental-health teams work alongside Listener peer-support schemes run with the Samaritans. Education runs from functional skills to vocational courses, with work placements in kitchens, gardens and workshops. Resettlement staff focus on the practical drivers of reoffending — housing, benefits, debt and family contact — in the weeks before release. Women serving longer sentences work through offending-behaviour programmes and risk reviews on the same progression ladder as the rest of the estate, aiming for open conditions later in the sentence. For a first-hand sense of how those early days inside feel and how families can help, our founder Daniel Hockey — who served a sentence from HMP Wandsworth through to open conditions at HMP Ford and wrote The Secret Prisoner — shares practical experience throughout this site.

Common mistakes and misunderstandings: Assuming Low Newton is part of HMP Durham — it is a separate establishment at Brasside, next to HMP Frankland. Turning up without a booking or ID — entry will be refused. Posting parcels of clothes or toiletries — property must go through approved routes and unannounced parcels are stored or returned. Believing remand means only a short stay — remand periods can stretch to months, so set up money and contact routines early. Expecting to get updates about a prisoner’s welfare on demand — staff cannot share information without consent, though family services can log concerns.

Frequently asked questions

What kind of prisoners are at Low Newton?

Women of all sentence types from across the North East — on remand, serving short and long sentences, and a number of life-sentenced women, alongside young adults.

Is Low Newton a high-security prison?

It is a closed prison. The women’s estate does not use the men’s A–D categories; women are held in closed or open conditions, and Low Newton is the region’s closed establishment.

How do I book a visit?

Through the prison’s visits booking line or the online booking service, in advance, with approved photo ID for every adult.

Where do women go after Low Newton?

Those assessed as suitable progress to open conditions — usually HMP Askham Grange near York — before release on licence.

Read inspection reports at HM Inspectorate of Prisons and advice from the Prison Reform Trust. On this site, see HMP New Hall, HMP Askham Grange and the full prison A–Z.