Failing Prison With ‘Squalid’ Living Conditions to Receive Urgent Support

A failing prison with “squalid” living conditions where the majority of inmates are not involved in meaningful activities will receive urgent support, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said. Priority works to cells and living areas and extra training and support for staff are among the measures announced by the MoJ on Monday for Rochester Prison. In early September, the Kent prison became the first category C jail to receive the worst possible rating under the HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ (HMIP) inspection framework. It received an Urgent Notification following what HMIP described as a “decade of systemic failure and decline” with the latest inspection, conducted in August, finding “endemic” drug use, self-harm, “decrepit” conditions, and a lack of activities to prepare its inmates for release....