The state of Wormwood Scrubs prison has been called ‘dysfunctional and chaotic’ following cuts in 2013.

A report released today (October 8) by the Du Cane Road prison’s independent monitoring board (IMB) has revealed the desperate state of affairs at the category B male prison from June 2013 to June 2014.

The report comes just a month after chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, wrote a damning report about how the 139-year-old Grade II listed prison is not safe enough after five prisoners died, with only one from natural causes, in 2013 and nothing was being done to implement prevention measures.

Chris Hammond, chair of the independent watchdog, said: “Wormwood Scrubs prison has had a dismal and highly regrettable year. For several months it was operating in a dysfunctional and chaotic state.”

He blamed ‘sweeping cuts and changes’ which took place in October last year when many prison officers, including experienced ones, were given voluntary redundancies at very short notice , causing severe shortages which had a major knock-on effect across most of the prison.

About 2,500 prisoners move in and out each month and it holds nearly 1,300 remand and convicted adult prisoners who have committed crimes on London’s streets.

There are a high number of foreign nationals (389), with 51 of those detained under Home Office Immigration offences who Mr Hammond felt should not be in a category B prison, with frequent lockdowns, without phones and fax machines needed to manage their immigration cases.

The report highlighted how the introduction of remand young offenders, who are 18 to 21-years-old, has had a major impact on the day to day running of the prison as over 20 per cent of all use of force has been involved with these offenders who only make up around five per cent of all the Scrubs’ prisoners.

Staff morale was reported to be very low, with serious concerns over safety, control and discipline.

Hammersmith MP and shadow justice minister, Andy Slaughter, said: "This latest report is truly shocking and further blows the lid of Chris Grayling's prison crisis. It is clear to see prisoners, prison staff and the public are being let down by this out of touch Tory-led government."

Mr Hammond’s report also agreed with Mr Hardwick’s over the high use of illegal drugs and added that more cooperation was needed between Government agencies, such as the Met Police, to combat crime on the outside geographical perimeter of the prison.

During the 2013/14 financial year there were 315 Muslims, 300 Roman Catholics, 150 Church of England, 170 of other religions and denominations and 285 with no religion.