The chief inspector of prisons has described the sense of “helplessness” at Pentonville jail after the jail was put into particular measures by a watchdog.
Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, described “bleak” situations on the north London jail, the place he mentioned inmates had been illegally detained longer than their launch date and supervised by workers who had been both studying books or asleep.
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Mr Taylor served an pressing notification on HMP Pentonville after an inspection found that 130 inmates – 20% of these eligible for launch – had been held illegally after their launch date within the final six months as a result of workers “failed to calculate sentences accurately”.
The backlog in sentencing calculations additionally meant 10 prisoners had been launched early “in error” between July 2024 and June 2025.
Picture:
File photograph dated 22/08/18 of a normal view of HMP Pentonville, north London.
The watchdog’s report additionally discovered that 60% of prisoners had been sharing cells that had been designed for one individual, many residing areas had been soiled and that there was a widespread infestation of mice and cockroaches.
“This is a big, busy London reception prison, Victorian, crumbling,” he mentioned.
“However notably worrying, we discovered new arrivals had been coming into the jail with no bedding, no pillows. I got here throughout a man who had solely half a mattress in his room on his first night time in jail.
“We found prison staff who couldn’t account for where their prisoners were during the day. We found prisoners who were on constant watch, who were on suicide watch, being supervised by staff who were reading books, who were asleep in one case, and in one case, completely absent.”
Pentonville is the tenth jail to be issued with an pressing notification since November 2022, following Exeter, Cookham Wooden Younger Offender Establishment, Woodhill, Bedford, Wandsworth, Rochester, Manchester and Winchester prisons.
The emergency measure was launched in 2017 as a method to elevate instant issues following an inspection, which requires a response and motion plan by the justice secretary inside 28 days.
Picture:
Shabana Mahmood arrives in Downing Avenue.
Pic: PA
In a letter to Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, Mr Taylor mentioned preparations for brand new prisoners’ first night time on the north London jail and induction had been “chaotic and even frightening”, with nearly all of prisoners had been locked of their cells for greater than 22 hours a day.
Inspectors took emergency motion after they discovered care of susceptible prisoners underneath fixed supervision was “shockingly poor”, with one jail officer discovered asleep, two had been studying books and one other was “completely absent”.
The “unacceptable practices” in taking care of these prisoners, deemed at severe danger of self-harm, had been a specific concern for inspectors given three suicides on the jail in 2025.
“There was a sense that this is Pentonville and there’s nothing we can do, and it’s all too difficult and just a lack of real morale amongst many of the staff members that we talked to, despite many of them doing a really good job in difficult circumstances,” he mentioned.
“It was a pretty bleak place. It was very noisy. It was violent, drugs are getting into the jail and really it needs some proper grip from the prison service if it’s going to make progress.”
A survey of prisoners additionally revealed 44% advised inspectors they felt unsafe on the time of inspection, which the watchdog mentioned was the very best determine recorded throughout his tenure as chief inspector.
Prisons minister Lord James Timpson mentioned he visited the jail on Thursday, the place the crew is already working to urgently tackle the issues raised by the chief inspector.
An motion plan may also be printed within the coming weeks to help the efforts.
Lord Timpson mentioned: “This government will end the chaos we inherited in our jails.
“We’re constructing 14,000 new jail locations and reforming sentencing so our jails cut back reoffending, minimize crime, and hold victims secure.”
