Daniel Khalife’s jail break shone a light on the “shocking” level of chaos at HMP Wandsworth and brought the crisis in prisons across England and Wales to the fore.
The prisons watchdog described the scandal-hit Victorian jail as “symbolic of the problems that characterise what is worst about the English prison system”.
Khalife made his escape in September last year, while being held on remand over spy charges, by strapping himself underneath a food delivery lorry.
It emerged in court that two guards checked the truck with a torch and mirror and, with no apparent lockdown already in place, allowed it to leave the prison, despite telling the driver someone was missing.
Earlier this year inspectors said the turmoil they found at the category B south-west London prison was the result of “sustained decline permitted to happen in plain view of leaders” and warned how prison guards did not always know where prisoners on their wings were, despite an investment of almost £900,000 since the escape.
The jail was “severely overcrowded” when inspectors visited between April and May, holding more than 1,500 men when it only had capacity for 979.
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor was so concerned at the “systemic” problems found, and the fears that the prison was not cutting the risk of reoffending as a result, that he called for HMP Wandsworth to be put into emergency measures.
Writing to then justice secretary Alex Chalk to issue a so-called urgent notification, Mr Taylor, who previously suggested the jail should be closed, said the prison was “still reeling” from Khalife’s “very high-profile” escape and that security remained a “serious concern”.
At the time, the Prison Governors’ Association (PGA) union said the development would be “of no surprise to the Government”, as the governor Katie Price resigned during the inspection and staff at the jail were in an “almost impossible situation”.
Detailed inspection findings, published in August, described how record keeping at the jail was “so poor”, with staff displaying an “inability to account for prisoners during the working day”.
More than half of the men inspectors spoke to said it was easy to get hold of drugs, while the watchdog’s report said the smell of cannabis was “ubiquitous”.
The findings concluded that “inexperience” across every grade of staff was preventing them from “bringing about much needed change”.
While the overcrowding crisis “compounded the pressures”, Mr Taylor said troubled Wandsworth’s problems “did not appear overnight”.
Although hard-working staff “persevered”, the prison had clearly been identified as “struggling”, he said as he called for “comprehensive, long-term solutions”.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said this was the “reality of a prison system in crisis”.
She stressed the Government’s determination to tackle the problems and set out how the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) would send in specialist staff and redirect £100 million from across the prison service to spend over five years to “deliver urgent improvements” at the jail.
Since November 2022, the prisons watchdog has issued an urgent notification on nine jails, including Wandsworth.
Government figures published in July showed the performance of more than 40% of adult prisons in England and Wales were rated of “concern”, as levels of violence and self-harm soared.
Out of the 119 adult prisons, just over four in 10 (42% or 50) were rated of “concern” or “serious concern”, according to PA news agency analysis of the data for the year to March.
Wandsworth was among 15 prisons considered to be of serious concern. The number of prisons given this rating increased by six since the previous 12-month period.
An audit carried out in the wake of Khalife’s escape found a raft of security failings at the jail, another report published in August said.
HMP Wandsworth’s Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), made up of volunteers tasked by ministers with scrutinising conditions in custody, said “81 points of failure” were identified in the review carried out in November last year, and resulted in “long overdue” upgrades being made to CCTV cameras which had not worked for more than a year.
The incident led to multiple reviews and action, including “previously unavailable funding” being found for security improvements and “significant investment” in a bid to stop “illicit items” being taken into the prison, according to the IMB.
Another internal review completed in December made 39 recommendations for improvement, according to the IMB.
The MoJ is yet to publish those documents, outline their findings or confirm whether any disciplinary action against staff at the prison has been taken.
Mr Chalk previously committed to detailing the findings of the MoJ’s investigations, ordered in the wake of Khalife’s escape, once his trial concluded.
But the government department is yet to confirm whether Ms Mahmood has agreed to do the same now she is in post.
