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Pentonville: Built in 1842 |
Prison conditions a ‘disgrace to society’
Report cites chronic overcrowding at a Pentonville ‘little changed since 1842’
CONDITIONS at Pentonville prison are described as ‘a disgrace to an affluent society’ in a damning report released this week.
Drugs, insecurity, and chronically insanitary cells which “...require two strangers to eat, sleep and spend a large part of their waking hours in what amounts to a shared lavatory...” were roundly condemned in a report by the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), the national body for prison visitors.
But the IMB said the “single most powerful influence” in the 1,200 strong prison population was overcrowding: “The chronic overcrowding of the prison system continues to place intolerable burdens upon staff at all levels...
“The overloading of the system makes a mockery of any pretensions that government may have to further the rehabilitation of imprisoned offenders.
“Most shamefully, the pressures created by unsustainable numbers remain an apparently insuperable obstacle to the elimination of the degrading living conditions which are nothing short of a disgrace to an affluent society.”
Pentonville, built in 1842, houses most of those held on remand for offences committed in Islington and Camden and many convicts who have family links in the area.
But it held the unenviable status as Britain’s worst prison last year and, despite a number of improvements noted by the IMB in terms of cleanliness and morale, is still riddled with drugs, the monitors found.
Director of the Clerkenwell-based Prison Reform Trust Juliet Lyon said: “When a jail is as overcrowded as Pentonville it operates as a giant transit camp.
“Anyone who still thinks prison is a holiday camp should read this report of a prison little changed since 1842.”
The Tribune visited Pentonville in March, to interview 32-year-stretch murder convict John Massey, who remains in the jail for breaching his licence by visiting his father’s death bed in the Royal Free Hospital last November.
Mr Massey, who has served his time in various prisons, described Pentonville as “an overcrowded penal dustbin”.
A Ministry of Justice official said on Monday that Pentonville governor Nick Leader was not available for interview in connection with the IMB report.
However, the ministry sent a statement: “HMP Pentonville is one of the oldest prisons in the country and maintenance is ongoing.
“Due to the transient population the majority of funding is spent on repairing damage caused by a nightly turnover of individual prisoners.
“Staff have made significant steps to provide a decent and clean environment, and strive to use the accommodation appropriately despite population pressures. All cells in use have in-cell electric, and there are plans in place for enhanced prisoners to have access to their own bedding.
“There is a rolling programme of in-cell painting, and staff make every attempt to provide the best environment possible with the facilities available.” |
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Your comments:
IT is truly a disgrace that this sort of situation is allowed to continue. Yet, all we hear from governent is that it intends to continue its highly punitive criminal justice policy, throwing more and more people into these institutions which are filthy and never envisaged of a society where so many people are locked up. The prison is now, more than ever, a university of criminality and a dustbin for people that suffer mental illness - the government needs to get a grip before there's a serious crisis.
Steven Allen
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