Prisons and probation
Conditions at Liverpool prison the worst ever inspected, says report
Inspectors describe 'squalid' state of jail including rat and cockroach infestations and damp cells with exposed wiring
The leaked report said inspectors 'could not recall having seen worse conditions than those at HMP Liverpool'. Photograph: Phil Noble/PA
Frances Perraudin North of England reporter
@fperraudin
Tue 19 Dec 2017 07.10 EST First published on Tue 19 Dec 2017 06.47 EST
Inmates at Liverpool prison are living in the worst conditions inspectors have ever seen, with one area so dirty, infested and hazardous it could not be cleaned, according to a leaked report.
Inspectors made an unannounced visit to HMP Liverpool in September, having been told about concerns over conditions, and found there was an "abject failure … to offer a safe, decent and purposeful environment".
The report, leaked to the BBC, described prisoners living in "squalid conditions", where rat and cockroach infestations were rife and cells had exposed electrical wiring.
Inmates said they felt victimised by staff, with some left locked in their cells for 22 hours a day, the report said. Incidents of self-harm and violence had increased and prisoners reported that it was "easy or very easy" to get hold of drugs.
Members of the inspection team said they "could not recall having seen worse living conditions than those at HMP Liverpool".
The report concluded: "We could see no credible plan to address these basic issues." In the weeks following the visit, two inmates killed themselves.
Writing in the report, the chief inspector of prisons, Peter Clarke, said: "I found a prisoner who had complex mental health needs being held in a cell that had no furniture other than a bed.
"The windows of both the cell and the toilet recess were broken, the light fitting in his toilet was broken with wires exposed, the lavatory was filthy and appeared to be blocked, his sink was leaking and the cell was dark and damp. Extraordinarily, this man had apparently been held in this condition for some weeks."
Directly criticising the Ministry of Justice, Clarke wrote: "It is hard to understand how the leadership of the prison could have allowed the situation to deteriorate to this extent.
"We saw clear evidence that local prison managers had sought help from regional and national management to improve conditions they knew to be unacceptable long before our arrival, but had met with little response."
An MoJ spokesperson said the ministry did not comment on leaked documents.
Speaking to the BBC, David Ramsbotham, a former chief inspector of prisons, said he would not disagree with the description of HMP Liverpool as "England's worst jail".
"It's as bad a report as I've ever seen," he said. "But … how could anyone come up from headquarters, go into Liverpool and not feel ashamed about it? How on earth did the head of the prison service allow the prison to get into that state?"
Last week, parliament's public accounts committee published a report on the state of mental health in prisons, condemning the record numbers of self-inflicted deaths among inmates and saying "more excuses are not good enough".
"There are deep-rooted failures in the management of prisoners' mental health, reflected in what is an appalling toll of self-inflicted deaths and self-harm," said the chair, Meg Hillier. "Failing to attend to the mental health needs of inmates can also have devastating effects beyond the prison gates."
UK criminal justice