A men’s prison in south London has been labelled “unsafe and inhumane” in a report.
Conditions at HMP Wandsworth, a Category B prison, are “not safe”, with “inhumane” conditions, serious overcrowding and increasing levels of violence, an Independent Monitoring Board report found.
The panel of volunteers said that failures at the prison reflect failings across “the prison system as a whole”.
However a prison service spokesperson said improvements had been made.
The report comes after Daniel Khalife was charged with escaping the prison.
IMB Chair, Tim Aikens, said: “Recent events at Wandsworth have demonstrated the shortcomings of the prison system that the IMB has been highlighting repeatedly for many years.
“Prisoners are being failed and most have a severely reduced chance of rehabilitation upon release. We are told there is significant investment in the prison system, but we see little evidence of this in Wandsworth.”
The report found that there was “no real progress” in fixing problems previously reported at the jail, with the shortage of available staff seriously undermining the ability of the prison to function effectively.
It said the percentage of available officers rarely reached above 50 per cent, and that assaults rose by over 20 per cent in all areas.
It found there were 1,048 assaults over the year, half of which were prisoner-on-staff and half of which were prisoner-on-prisoner. Of those assaults, 301 were serious enough to be referred to police.
“This level of violence was of great concern,” the report found.
Other concerns raised include “no heating or hot water during the winter months” and easy access to contraband, including through drones.
Cell searches found 330 mobile phones and 1,900 litres of illicitly brewed alcohol, raising concerns about the security of the prison, the report said.
A Prison Service spokesperson said it had increased frontline staffing at the prison by almost a quarter in the past six years.
The service said more than £8m was being spent on new CCTV for the prison, "tougher" gate security and specialist staff with dogs, and that new windows had been installed and roofs repaired.
The Standard has contacted the Prison Service for comment.
