Police hunt for two prisoners wrongly released from Wandsworth in past week

Staff Shortages and ‘Inhumane’ Accommodation – Report Exposes Issues at Wandsworth Prison

A damning report by the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) has revealed severe problems at HMP Wandsworth, including critical staff shortages and degrading living conditions.

The report found that the level of staff absence was “unacceptable”, noting that a prison housing nearly 1,500 inmates was often being run by fewer than 85 officers.

Temporary reinforcements from other prisons “alleviated some pressures in the short term,” but the IMB said there was little evidence of long-term improvement.

It also highlighted concerns about inexperienced officers — some with only nine weeks of training — who were “unwilling or incapable of pulling together as a team.”

As a result, prisoners were frequently confined to their cells for up to 22 hours a day, with limited time for exercise or social interaction.

The IMB described the prison’s accommodation as “inhumane,” saying that two men were often required to share cells designed for one, and that overall living conditions lacked decency.

Justice Committee Chair Warns Prison System Is ‘At Breaking Point’

Published at 21:24

Andy Slaughter, Chair of the Justice Committee, has warned that the UK’s prison system is facing collapse after reports that two prisoners were released in error from HMP Wandsworth, just weeks after a similar incident at HMP Chelmsford.

“Events such as this speak to a wider justice system at breaking point,” Slaughter said. “The system has been starved of investment for years and is now plagued by overcrowding, under-staffing, and instability.”

He added that during a Committee visit to Wandsworth, as part of its Tackling Drugs in Prisons inquiry, members found “multiple failings despite the best efforts of staff.”

A recent report warned that drug use and trafficking within UK prisons have reached ‘endemic’ levels, and Slaughter cautioned that further mistaken releases are likely unless “the underlying failures are addressed.”