‘Cramped relic’: Urgent action needed to ‘save lives’ inside overcrowded Pentonville prison, campaigners warn

Pentonville prison. Photograph: Julia Gregory

Campaigners have warned that urgent action is needed to improve conditions at a prison branded an overcrowded “Victorian relic”.

It follows an unannounced visit to Pentonville by inspectors who found that 44 per cent of new arrivals felt unsafe on their first night – compared with 23 per cent at other prisons.

Inspectors turned up at the prison in July and said there were “entrenched problems in a troubled jail”.

Since their last inspection in 2019 there have been seven “self-inflicted” deaths, and inspectors found support for prisoners in crisis to be “not good enough”.

They also raised concerns that Pentonville was “severely overcrowded and it could not decently or safely care for the number of prisoners it was currently required to hold”.

They found that 60 per cent of inmates were in overcrowded conditions, with two people sharing cells designed for one as the “cramped early Victorian relic” struggles to cope with 1,100 prisoners when it should have a maxmum of 900.

The inspection report slammed “claustrophobic wings and a crumbling physical infrastructure that require constant repair and refurbishment to meet the most basic standards of decency”.

In 2015, the then justice secretary Michael Gove branded it “the most dramatic example of failure” of UK prisons.

Whilst violent incidents between prisoners dropped 30 per cent over the last year, prison bosses said much of it was linked to gang affiliation as well as drugs supply and debt.

People with gang links are kept separate, but inspectors wanted more formal interventions to stop violent incidents.

Inspectors also criticised the “poor” amount of time prisoners spend outside their cells, with most having “inadequate access to the gym”.

They warned that illicit items smuggled in remain “a major threat to the prison”. They said despite a drugs policy “the volume of drugs in circulation was still high and prisoners were clearly smoking illicit substances on the wings without consistent challenge by staff. ”

The prison has a history of people trying to  smuggle in contraband and new windows and window cages were put up to stop drones and parcels getting in.

In the latest report inspectors  said  “gate security remained particularly weak.”

They also criticised the daily regime with meals dished out too early with lunch served from 10.30am to 11am and the evening meal at 4pm. Breakfast packs were also handed out at lunchtime the day before.

Other concerns included a high nursing  vacancy rate and “insufficient support” for prisoners from protected groups, including large numbers of foreign nationals, although this was better than at other prisons they visited.

Few prisoners they surveyed were helped with their mental health problems and many faced long waits for appointments, the inspectors said.

Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “This is yet another tragic report on Pentonville, which has been under enormous pressure for many years. This prison is supposed to hold about 900 men at most; at the end of last month, it was being asked to accommodate more than 1,100, and more than 60 per cent of the men are in overcrowded cells.”

He said despite inspectors’ concerns  in 2019 about safety and decency “little has changed”.

“Ministers should act now to save lives. We cannot go on cramming more and more people into jails such as Pentonville without any thought for the consequences. The solution to this enduring crisis begins with sensible steps to reduce the prison population.”

Responding to the inspection a prison service spokeswoman said: “Since this inspection our life-saving pandemic restrictions have ended and prisoners are spending more time engaging with activities out of cells to boost their rehabilitation.

“The prison has also introduced a new wing to provide additional mental health support for neurodiverse prisoners.”