Wormwood Scrubs prison remains a dangerous environment for staff and prisoners alike despite making notably improvements, a new report has found.
The annual report of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) for HMP Wormwood Scrubs found inmates stay in “indecent” living conditions, while wardens and other staff work in “unsuitable conditions” at the Victorian-built jail.
The report, which looks at the prison from June 1 2016 to May 31 this year, also reveals a number of prisoners died while in custody.
It notes an incident in April where a prisoner was released early by error.
Wormwood Scrubs in the news
The IMB say “real progress” has been made since its last report, with the regime more consistent and the outcome of prisoners improved.
But progress has been tempered by staff shortages, with several serious problems still be to addressed, chief among them the condition of the prison.
It calls the maintenance contract provided by Carillion “unacceptable”, and says prisoners are “frequently subjected to indecent living conditions, with faulty heating and broken toilets”.
The external courtyards are often covered in rubbish and the prison continues to attract rats, finds the report.
Alarmingly fire safety equipment at the prison, which is less than two miles from Grenfell Tower, is not properly maintained.
Other major issues highlighted include:
- Difficulties in the system for legal visits meaning that prisoners awaiting trial do not have effective access to legal representation
- The Offender Management Unit is seriously under-resourced, which damages prisoners’ changes of success before the Parole Board and has led to at least one prisoner being mistakenly released early. The inmate was returned to custody a few days later
- The private Community Rehabilitation Company does not sufficiently engage with prisoners before their release and far too many are released without any accommodation to go to
- Too many prisoners are still spending most of their day locked in their cells
Other findings of the report reveal there to be around 40 to 50 violent incidents at the prison in a typical month, which includes assaults on both prisoners and staff, with the latter a particular problem at Wormwood Scrubs.
There were also three deaths in custody reported, with a fourth death, which happened on the night of the last day of the IMB’s year, to be included in next year’s report.
Wormwood Scrubs IMB chairman Rob Foreman said the prison was in better shape than previously, and that many of the problems it encountered were beyond the control of its staff.
“It’s not as bad as we have said in the past but there’s still a long way to go,” he said.
“Despite the efforts of a lot of the staff on the simple lack of staff has meant that progress is slower than it could be.”
He said much of what is going wrong is to do with regional and national issues, saying: “A lot of the problems are out of the hands of the people working there.”
Success stories over the tear include the introduction of more CCTV and a new system for prisoners to access their property.
The Ministry of Justice has been approached for comment.
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