Liverpool prison slammed
The Chief Inspector of Prisons has today condemned the conditions at Liverpool Prison – western Europe’s largest jail.
Anne Owers found the prison, which holds almost 1,500 inmates, to be ‘seriously under-performing’ under an ‘unacceptable regime’.
The damning report follows a Government threat of privatisation if conditions do not improve.
During the investigation, officials found that windows were broken, parts of the jail were unclean and that it was infested with cockroaches.
Further, prisoners were only able to shower and change their clothes once a week with overcrowding resulting in prisoners sharing single cells with an unscreened toilet in numerous cases.
Ms Owers said: ‘The availability of association, exercise and showers was far below the average for other local prisons, with most prisoners having association only once a week, if that’.
She went on to observe that conditions for newly arrived prisoners were ‘amongst the worst’ she had seen, with ‘unacceptable’ standards of hygiene and cleanliness both there and in the healthcare centre.
The investigation, conducted last June, also highlighted that opportunities for work and education had declined since the last inspection in 1999, despite a demonstrable need – 95 per cent of inmates have basic literacy and numeracy problems.
Poor industrial relations have also been flagged up as contributory factors to the dismal situation and management is blamed for the delivery of the inadequate regime.
Liverpool and HMP Dartmoor have been identified as Britain’s two worst prisons.
The Government has threatened privatisation if conditions do not improve within six months.
The Prison Service maintains that the deficiencies at Liverpool prison had already been acknowledged and work is underway to bring about improvements.
Two more prisons to undergo this performance testing are due to be named next month.
