Foreign prisoners are being treated to therapy sessions likened to those seen on a “yoga retreat” while holed up in Britain, it has emerged.
At HMP Maidstone in Kent – one of Britain’s three prisons which solely houses criminals from abroad – inmates are allowed to take part in breathing exercises and cold-water therapy as part of their rehabilitation.
The Kent prison is home to around 600 foreign criminals from almost 100 different countries.
The Independent Monitoring Board recently penned a report on HMP Maidstone, in which it was hailed for its range of programmes.
The review noted: “[There were] a broad range of group programmes … [including] pre-release support, criminal records workshops, relaxation and breathwork sessions.
“Additional initiatives included cold-water therapy and practical skills sessions such as soup and bread-making.”
The report also claimed violent incidents inside the prison had “reduced significantly” over the past 12 months.
One prison insider told The Telegraph that the foreign criminals banged up in the Kent jail must be “wondering what the hell is going on”.
“Cold-water therapy and breathwork? It sounds like a yoga retreat,” they added.
A spokesman for the Prison Service said: “We inherited a prison system on the brink of collapse.
“We are pulling every lever to restore order, including building 14,000 extra spaces and investing £75million to clamp down on violence, criminality, and drugs.”
Cold water therapy – also known as cold hydrotherapy – typically involved intentional exposure to cold water through ice baths, cold plunges or cold-water swimming.
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Supporters of cold water therapy say it can help improve mood, ease muscle soreness and boost metabolism and immune system.
The practice has been championed by Dutch motivational speaker Wim Hof, with high-profile celebrities including David Beckham, Oprah Winfrey and Justin Bieber regularly taking part.
Beginners are recommended to start by exposing their body to temperatures between 10C and 15C for no longer than two minutes at a time.
More experienced users can stay submerged in temperatures as cool as 3C for three minutes at a time or longer.
The revelations from HMP Maidstone come after prison chiefs at HMP Manchester were blasted after spending thousands of taxpayers’ cash on music lessons for inmates.
A damning report following an unannounced inspection of the Category A prison back in 2024 described it as being in “an appalling state”.
When inspectors returned in January 2026, prison chiefs had begun to make “some progress”, but many problems “remained unchanged,” and the prison was declared “not sufficiently good”.
Despite the continuing problems, HMP Manchester last month signed off on a contract worth thousands of taxpayers’ money for music courses for inmates.
Procurement records show the contract, awarded on September 28, will run from October 7 until March 31, 2027, to the tune of £15,000. It will consist of two projects, focused on rap and hip-hop music, “reflecting the interests of the prison population”.
Anne Strickland, researcher at the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers should not be footing a £15,000 bill for rap and hip-hop courses in a prison plagued by drugs, violence and illicit phones.”
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