Prison wing gets inspectorate rap
Chief inspector of prisons Anne Owers has criticised the standards at the new £15 million healthcare wing of Pentonville prison.
Ms Owers found that although facilities at the new building, opened earlier this year, were “excellent”, they were let down by a lack of primary care due to poor management.
An inspection revealed that expensive new machinery was not connected properly, nurse supervision was “non-existent” and drug dispensing was “unsafe”.
“Throughout the prison, in almost all the areas we inspected, systems and management structures were simply inadequate to ensure agreed policies were being implemented safely, decently or consistently,” she said.
Problems at the prison have also, in part, been blamed on overcrowding. There are currently 1,150 inmates residing at Pentonville, some of whom are locked up 22 hours a day.
Phil Wheatley, director general of the prison service, said that he was confident that Pentonville’s management would enable it to “move forward” and progress.
