(C) OpenDemocracy This story was originally published by OpenDemocracy and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . HMP Wandsworth: Investigation shows prison crisis is systemic [1] [] Date: 2024-05 The government has been issued with an “urgent notification” for the improvement of Wandsworth Prison, after an unannounced inspection revealed inmates are being held in “very poor” conditions amid severe overcrowding and staff shortages. The chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, put HMP Wandsworth in special measures last week after finding a “shocking decline” caused by “poor leadership” and “systemic and cultural failures”. Seven men being held at the prison in south-west London died from self-inflicted wounds in the past year, while another escaped in a high-profile incident that led to a three-day nationwide police search. But the failings at Wandsworth are just the tip of the iceberg – with an openDemocracy investigation published earlier this month revealing the entire English and Welsh prison system is in crisis. Get our free Daily Email Get one whole story, direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up now Inspectors found Wandsworth to be severely overcrowded, housing 1,513 prisoners – almost 600 people more than it was built to safely hold. Eighty percent of inmates were having to share a cell designed for one person. We found that prisons’ maximum capacities are often ignored in the English and Welsh prison estate, which holds 87,000 people, including many who are crammed into too-small and crumbling Victorian facilities. Such overcrowding can have dire impacts on health and safety, so it is unsurprising that the chief inspector’s urgent notification revealed 69% of those held in Wandsworth reported feeling “unsafe”. This is a 21% increase from two years earlier, according to openDemocracy’s investigation. That lack of safety is heightened by a failure by prison staff to answer inmates’ emergency ‘cell bells’ in a timely manner. Prisoners in Wandsworth reported that 40% of bell calls were not answered within the five-minute target set by the Inspectorate of Prisons. openDemocracy’s analysis of prison data from 2021 to 2024 found there were only eight prisons out of 117 where more than 60% of inmates said their bell was responded to within five minutes. Failure to answer cell bells in time can have fatal consequences, as the bells are used to alert staff to self-harm, ill health and violence between prisoners. Stephen Hotson, who was jailed for killing his wife, died in prison in 2021 after waiting 18 minutes for a response to his cell bell, which was then only answered accidentally when a prison officer happened to walk by, according to an inquest. According to our investigation, only 21% of prisoners in HMP Dovegate, where Hotson was held, said their cell bell was answered within five minutes. For prisoners held in cells without in-cell sanitation, delays in answering cell bells can mean long waits to use the toilet, forcing many to use bins instead. This is particularly humiliating and unhygienic given many prisoners are being made to share too-small cells designed for one person. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/wandsworth-tip-iceberg-poor-prison-conditions-england-wales-unsafe-unhygienic/ Published and (C) by OpenDemocracy Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/opendemocracy/