Overcrowding
![](https://howardleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Portland-cell-PrisonImage-unlimited-use-until-15-December-2017-768x512.jpg)
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Certified Normal Accommodation (CNA): 290
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Population: 304
Standing on the former hunting grounds of the Broadhurst family, Foston Hall is a closed women’s prison and Young Offenders Institution in Derbyshire. Since being purchased by the Prison Service in 1953, the Hall has been used as a detention centre, an immigration centre and a satellite of HMP Sudbury before taking on its current role in 1997.
Read Foston Hall’s latest inspection report here.
About this information
Certified Normal Accommodation (CNA) is the prison service’s own measure of how many prisoners can be held in decent and safe accommodation. Any occupancy above CNA means that the prison in question is overcrowded.
Restricted status: women placed on restricted status are deemed to pose a high risk to the public if they were to escape. They are held in closed women’s prisons, and sometimes placed in the segregation unit.
Closed prisons: the majority of women’s prisons are closed prisons. Women who are assessed as not being suitable for open conditions are held in these prisons.
Open prisons: there are two open prisons for women, Askham Grange and East Sutton Park. They hold women who have been assessed as posing a low risk.
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