Fresh calls have been made to end over-crowding at HMP Durham as a report finds prisoners are still forced to share cells only big enough for one.
The prison's Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) is once again urging the Government to take action as it reveals around 90 per cent of cells designed for one person are now occupied by two inmates.
And in its annual report the board highlights concerns about the lack of health checks prisoners receive on arrival, and the huge rise in the number of "unsentenced" inmates who have been at the remand prison for more than a year.
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The report, which is published today, covers the period between November 2020 and October 2021 during which prisoners spent much of their time confined to their cells due to two strict national coronavirus lockdowns.
And while the board was pleased to report that violence and deaths in the prison had fallen over this period, they did raise some concerns about life in the prison.
As well as cell-sharing, insufficient health checks for new prisoners was highlighted as something in urgent need of improvement.
IMB Chair, Dr. Thérèse Quincey, said: "This has been another challenging year for prisoners and HMP Durham with varying restrictions under different stages in the prison. The Board is satisfied from the evidence collated that the prison has been well managed and strategies have been implemented to ensure prisoners are safe and their well being maintained.”
The report highlights how over the period covered by the report there was the lowest number of deaths in custody in the past five years.
The prison has also implemented systems to support vulnerable men on arrival and those at risk of suicide or self-harm through the ACCT system (Assessment Care in Custody and Teamwork), which helps to prevent self harm.
On the issue of overcrowding the Board said: "The prison is obligated to ensure prisoners are treated fairly and humanely and through observations and prisoner engagement the prison has prioritised humane and dignified treatment. However, the Board still remains very concerned about overcrowding with two prisoners occupying cells that should have single occupancy."
And on the problems with healthcare, it added: "The Board has concerns regarding the level of Healthcare in HMP Durham.
"Firstly, on arrival from court some prisoners are not given a healthcare assessment prior to moving to the first night centre. Secondly, prisoners should have a secondary health screening within seven days of arrival. Compliance in this area is extremely poor.
"Whilst Healthcare staff are seen to be caring, the Board is concerned about the logistical management of these processes."
During Covid outbreaks strict lockdown measures were implemented which resulted in prisoners having to spend most of their time in their cells.
This has been cited as a reason for a reduction in violence and assaults at HMP Durham.
However, Covid brought new challenges with family visits suspended.
The IMB's Vice-Chair, Keith Young added: “Board members have specific areas of interest where members accept responsibility to observe and monitor in order to gather evidence. They utilise a range of sources in order to determine whether the prison is meeting its obligations”.
The Prison Service said the Government was investing in 20,000 new prison places across the country.
A spokeswoman said: "HMP Durham remains within its operational capacity, but the 20,000 prison places we are building will help reduce the number of double occupancy cells across the estate.”
