The government has been issued with an “urgent notification” for the improvement of Wandsworth Prison, after an unannounced inspection revealed inmates are being held in “very poor” conditions amid severe overcrowding and staff shortages.
The chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, put HMP Wandsworth in special measures last week after finding a “shocking decline” caused by “poor leadership” and “systemic and cultural failures”.
Seven men being held at the prison in south-west London died from self-inflicted wounds in the past year, while another escaped in a high-profile incident that led to a three-day nationwide police search.
