Wandsworth Prison: Rats and sewage unbearable, volunteer says

Liz Bridge said the situation "is like sitting on a volcano"

Conditions at the third most crowded prison in England and Wales are "unbearable", its former chaplain says.

Liz Bridge said HMP Wandsworth had been "allowed to fail" and basic standards of cleanliness were not being met, with rats and sewage in cells commonplace.

"If you want to drive somebody insane, you make them go dirty, don't change their clothes and don't feed them, but that's what we're doing," she said.

The Prison Service says it is improving safety and conditions at Wandsworth.

HMP Wandsworth is operating at 163% of Certified Normal Accommodation, the standard that the Prison Service aspires to provide all prisoners, House of Commons library figures show.

Currently, there are more than 1,500 inmates at the jail in south-west London, which was built in 1851.

A watchdog deemed the men's prison "unsafe and inhumane" in a report published in October.

Last September, Daniel Khalife allegedly escaped from the prison underneath a catering van.

The prison's Independent Monitoring Board says conditions "remain inhumane"

Ms Bridge, a Quaker chaplain, has been banned from volunteering in prisons for five years after giving a handful of prisoners sums of up to £25 through the prison payments system, and admits: "I should have known the rules."

She said: "I went native. I shouldn't have but they were very small sums of money done in very desperate circumstances and anybody that judges me would have to try that circumstance themselves."

The 72-year-old, who spent eight years volunteering at the Category B prison, says many men leave "broken".

She said: "The quality of the food is poor. You're locked up for so long, you very rarely go outside. We can't get them out to lessons, we can't get them out to the library.

"What are you supposed to do in a cell for 22 hours but go insane or take drugs, which seems to be the get-out clause for a lot of people?"

Pia Sinha appeared on Desert Island Discs last year

Chief executive at the Prison Reform Trust Pia Sinha, who has previously worked in HMP Wandsworth, branded the conditions there "shameful".

She said: "In my 24 years in the Prison Service, I'd say they're in the worst condition I've seen them.

"Whereas before when they've been in a bad state, it always felt like there was a light at the end of the tunnel, I'm finding it difficult to see where the light is this time."

'Sitting on a volcano'

Asked about the prison's future prospects, Ms Bridge painted a grim picture.

She said: "I cannot but think that we're walking towards an explosion of some sort because prison numbers are going up very quickly and officer numbers are not keeping pace, and the conditions are appalling, and you think it's like sitting on a volcano, really.

"We haven't enough officers. A prison isn't just a building, it's a staff, and they're not recruiting enough people of good enough calibre and training them well enough."

HMP Wandsworth houses some prisoners on remand

Ms Sinha has also worked in other London prisons including Wormwood Scrubs and Holloway, as well as HMP Risley in Cheshire.

She says one of the aims of prison is rehabilitation but current conditions lead to "trauma and re-traumatisation" which will not "help us to break the cycle" and means inmates "are going to come out of the other end in a worse state".

She added: "Sadly, because talking about prisons and being interested in prisons is deeply unpopular, it doesn't have any political capital.

"Those kind of agendas get ignored and when you ignore prisons for a consistent period of time, they really deteriorate and they deteriorate badly."

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "We're improving safety and conditions at HMP Wandsworth by boosting staffing levels and investing millions into upgrades such as new CCTV and windows, roof repairs and refurbished healthcare facilities.

"Staff at Wandsworth have also been given additional training in suicide and self-harm prevention, and we are working with the Samaritans to provide further support to prisoners who need it."

Additional reporting by Lucy Gilder

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]