Pentonville prison

ISLINGTON South MP Emily Thornberry has called for Pentonville prison to be closed after a report found that prisoners have been unlawfully imprisoned past their release date in squalid and cockroach-infested conditions.

Dame Emily told the Tribune that the dilapidated building was “not an excuse for prison staff not knowing the inmate names, whereabouts, or when they are supposed to be released; inmates spending 22 hours a day locked up despite there being enough capacity for them to be engaged in part-time work and meaningful activity; and shockingly poor oversight by staff of vulnerable inmates.”

Her comments follow a report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons that discovered that staff had “failed to calculate sentences accurately”. This meant, in just the past six months, 130 inmates had remained locked up after they were supposed to be freed.

The watchdog further found that new arrivals were likely to suffer a “chaotic and even frightening” first night in jail, and that many men were subjected to squalid and unsafe conditions, sleeping in dirty cells which did not have bedding and pillows.

Chief Inspector Charlie Taylor said: “Pentonville is an overcrowded, inner-city, Victorian prison with a record of poor performance over many years. Too many of its staff have become disillusioned about the possibility of improvement or their capacity to affect change.”

But findings related to the conditions inside Pentonville have not come as a surprise to those who have consistently called for improvements to be made.

In 2023, a report by the independent monitoring board (IMB) found that the prison was “unfit for purpose” and at that time one ex-inmate told the Tribune how he had spent the first two days inside without a pillow in a cell covered in human faeces and urine.

Annual reports by the IMB have found failings time and time again in the prison which now houses 1,200 inmates despite being originally designed for 480.

Tom Wheatley, President of the Prison Governors’ Association (PGA) said: “The language used by the Chief Inspector implies that he has discovered a situation of which the Governor was unaware and that he has ‘uncovered’ the conditions at Pentonville. This is sadly not the case.”

Mr Wheatley, along with the chair of the IMB, urgently called for more resources to be allocated to the prison.

He added: “Building more prisons whilst failing to invest in the existing prison estate simply to allow more and more people to be sent to prison is a mistake. Ministers have been warned of the consequences at Pentonville and across the wider prison estate.”

Dame Emily added: “Many of these failings could have been averted had recommendations from previous inspections been implemented, but 80 per cent have not been. The prison is simply unable to cope with the demand placed on it by the prison service and in the face of such an intractable situation should be closed.

“It is not fair on staff, inmates, or their families, for such poor conditions to persist.”