The prison is run by HMPS as part of the North East Region. It has a capacity of 344 and the #1 governor is Rob Young, who has been in charge since February 2020. It serves the courts from the Scottish borders to North Yorkshire and across Cumbria. Low Newton is on the outskirts of Durham city on the same site as HMP Frankland. It was built in 1965 and extended about 10 years later, becoming a women’s prison in 1998
Accommodation
- A wing – 30 spaces
- B wing – 31 spaces
- C wing – 51 spaces
- D wing – 52 spaces
- E wing – 59 spaces; early days in custody unit, including the safety and support and substance misuse units
- F wing – 40 spaces; long-term and indeterminate sentence women, restricted status women and Primrose unit (high-risk women)
- G wing – recently decommissioned
- Health care – 12 spaces and palliative care suite
- I wing – 39 spaces, psychologically informed planned environment (PIPE)