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Prison conditions condemned

01 May 1993

Judge Stephen Tumim, Chief Inspector of Prisons, has condemned conditions at Bristol prison for failing to improve since the riots of 1990. His report expresses concern at the treatment of gravely ill patients in the prison's health centre and describes their condition as "dangerous and unacceptable".

In a separate report Tumim is even more critical of conditions at Cardiff prison which were described as "unhygienic and gross". His comments followed a visit to the prison which was built in 1827 and holds over 400 prisoners, last October.

Conditions inside Wolds prison, near Hull, have been criticised by The Prison Reform Trust (PRT). Wolds is Britain's first private prison this century and is run by Group 4 Remand Services. It holds approximately 235 remand prisoners. The PRT report says that life inside the prison is aimless and that there is widespread evidence of drug abuse and violence.

An independent inquiry, by the Howard League, into conditions at Feltham Young Offenders Centre, where four boys were found hanged within eight months in 1991, recommended that "the centre should no longer exist in its present condition."

Guardian 5.4.93, 14.4.93, 23.4.93; Independent 25.5.93.