HMP Bristol among 'most unsafe in the country' - report

The prison is overcrowded and run down, inspectors found

A damning report has found HMP Bristol has "chronic and intractable" problems.

An inspection between 10 and 20 July found levels of violence against both inmates and staff were higher than most other prisons in the country.

Almost half of detainees said it was easy to get drugs, and there have been seven suspected suicides in the last 10 months.

Prisons Minister Damian Hinds said the Ministry of Justice was taking "urgent action" to turn the prison around.

In an "urgent notification" letter to the Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said failings observed in a last inspection in 2019 persisted and it remained "one of the most unsafe prisons in the country".

Inspectors found almost half the prisoners were living in double cells designed for one person, and the cells in one wing were without internal sanitation.

'Sense of hopelessness'

But despite this, the capacity of the prison has continued to increase, with the prison taking in an average of 55 new inmates per week.

Substance abuse was also rife, with 46% of prisoners saying it was easy to get drugs.

Mr Taylor said most prisoners were locked up for almost 22 hours a day, while attendance at skills, education and work programmes was "poor".

Recorded rates of self-harm had risen by 16% since the last inspection, and Bristol now has the third-highest rate of all prisons of its type.

Efforts to reduce self-harm were too limited, inspectors said, and did not focus on issues such as levels of violence, threat, debt and inconsistent access to purposeful activity.

This led to a "sense of hopelessness" the report added.

Prisoners were left with a "sense of hopelessness", the report found

'Significant risk'

Mental health provision was found to be insufficient and inspectors found there were often long delays in transferring acutely unwell prisoners to secure psychiatric hospitals.

Emergency cell bells often went unanswered, which inspectors warned was a "significant risk in a prison with so many self-inflicted deaths".

In addition, one inmate, Michael Harkin, 34, is awaiting trial accused of the murder of a second, Daniel Childs, 38, who was killed on 5 June this year.

Mr Taylor remarked there were many "excellent and dedicated staff" in the prison who were "doing their best" but noted many of the senior leadership team were new to their posts.

"Leaders at all levels had consistently overestimated performance and did not have a firm grip of the many challenges facing the prison," he said.

It found that use of force by staff was higher than at the last inspection, and was among the highest in the country for the type of prison.

Recruitment and retention was also an issue, with leaders reliant on overtime to maintain safe staffing levels.

Inspectors found some progress had been made, such as investment in the reception and living conditions, but they found the prison remained run down in "too many areas".

'I'm frightened to death for my son'

BBC reporter Lee Madan spoke to the mother of a HMP Bristol inmate

A mother whose son has been in prison for eight months, told the BBC that conditions inside HMP Bristol were "shocking" and that she was "frightened to death" that he would come out a worse person than what he went in.

"I don't think they're treated as people," she said.

"The food is diabolical. They get fish fingers for breakfast. There's never enough food to go around," she said.

"When he first got to prison, he was sleeping on a soaking wet mattress. His bunkmate was sleeping on the floor because it was just damp.

"The walls were black, damp. And recently there have been sightings of cockroaches."

She said she is also concerned about how easy it is for inmates to get hold of drugs.

"On certain wings they're out of their face on spice and cannabis.

"He's actually heard drones at night [flying in drugs].

"My son is an ex-drug addict and the last thing I want is for him to be confined where he's still able to get illegal drugs."

'Completely unacceptable'

Inspectors further warned that promising programmes, such as schemes to help prisoners reconnect with their families, boost their literacy and read to their children, had ended due to funding cuts.

But it noted that a fifth of the prison population were under 25, and they had a chance to participate in activities such as the Duke of Edinburgh award.

Prisons Minister Damian Hinds said: "The findings of this report are completely unacceptable and we are taking urgent action to turn the prison around and ensure the safety of staff and prisoners.

"We have already deployed extra staff to improve safety and work is underway to refurbish showers and cells, but we know much more work is needed to get the prison back to where it needs to be.

"We will shortly publish our action plan which will set out what measures we're taking to resolve the most serious issues."