Many prisoners are locked up in cells for long periods in
insanitary, unhygienic and degrading conditions that threaten
their health and can drive them to take drugs, according to HM
Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke.
While high security, women’s and open prisons generally have
decent conditions, the picture in many local and training prisons
– home to the bulk of prisoners in England and Wales – is bleak,
Mr Clarke said.
Publishing a report, Life in Prison: Living Conditions,
containing many disturbing images, Mr Clarke said: “All too
often, prisoners are held in conditions that fall short of what
most members of the public would consider as reasonable or
decent.”
Evidence in the report raised the question, Mr Clarke said, of
“whether it is acceptable for prisoners to be held in these
conditions in the United Kingdom in 2017.”
Overcrowded cells, with two or more prisoners, often have an
unscreened or inadequately screened lavatory, frequently without
a lid, or sometimes with a makeshift lid made of cardboard,
pillowcases or food trays. Ventilation is frequently poor. The
paper captures accounts from prisoners, in cells holding two or
more people, “of what it feels like to eat and sleep in what is,
in effect, a shared lavatory.”
In local prisons, 31% of prisoners reported being locked in their
cells for at least 22 hours a day. HM Prison and Probation
Service (HMPPS) figures for 2016/17 showed a quarter of prisoners
overall lived in overcrowded conditions. The figure rose to 48%
of prisoners in local jails.
The report, based on evidence from HMIP inspection visits, notes
that:
Prisoners are frequently required to eat all their meals in these
cells – “in what are obviously insanitary, unhygienic and
degrading conditions. They face health risks inherent in flushing
open lavatories in confined spaces which have to serve as a
bedroom and dining room (and sometimes as a kitchen).” One
prisoner said: “‘I feel no one should be forced to eat their food
a couple of feet away from their toilet. Some sit on their toilet
as a seat to eat. This is degrading and totally unhygienic.’
Prisoners can only get cleaning materials on a weekly basis in
only around half of jails. One prisoner told inspectors: “The
only way of cleaning our cell floors is by using used T-shirts
and pouring water on our floors, and mopping the water up with
T-shirts as we do not get to mop our floors.”
While most prisoners can shower every day, this falls to only 51%
in prisons holding young adults, aged from 18–21.
Mr Clarke said:
“The aspirations of the prison reform programme will not be met
if prisoners are confined in conditions that embitter and
demoralise, leaving them unable to access rehabilitative
activities and, all too often, turning to illicit drugs to break
the boredom born of long periods locked in their cells.”
