Grim reality of prison conditions laid bare in damning report

Inmates in England and Wales live among vermin while gangs control entire wings, monitors warn, with failures ‘at risk of becoming normalised’ Staff at immigration detention centre wore England flags, report finds The independent monitoring board’s annual report of conditions across the prison estate of England and Wales is stark and unflinching. Men and women are held for long periods in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, often living alongside vermin. Inmates are not fed properly and have trouble accessing medical assistance. Many have no opportunity to learn a skill or participate in education. Gangs appear to control entire wings, and roam around cells collecting drug debts with threats of violence. Toilets remain broken for weeks. Men, women and children spend most of their days locked up with no activities. And if they leave their cell, there is a risk they will be attacked, often with weapons. “Failures once regarded as serious are at risk of becoming normalised,” the report concludes. Cases highlighted by the report include a man in HMP Garth, Lancashire, who died in a cell fire after the alarm apparently failed to sound; a man who was warned that he may lose his leg wh