“Acutely” mentally ill women are being held in “terrible conditions” in a prison where some cells were found daubed with scratches and blood stains, a watchdog has warned.
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said the levels of distress witnessed among women in crisis in one wing of HMP Eastwood Park were “appalling” and told how an experienced member of his team described conditions as the “worst he had ever seen”. The Gloucestershire prison and young offender institution was given the lowest rating for safety, according to findings published on Thursday (February 2).
Inspectors said such a low grade was unusual among women’s prisons as they raised particular concern about unit 4 – a block in the jail holding female offenders in segregation, those under supervision or waiting to be transferred to a secure mental health facility. In the HM Inspectorate of Prisons report, the cells were described as “appalling, dilapidated and covered in graffiti, one was blood-splattered, and some had extensive scratches on the walls”, reflecting the “degree of trauma” experienced by previous inmates.
