Britain's worst prisons: Squalid conditions and attacks on staff (2024)

Scandal-hit prisons including HMP Wandsworth, Parc and Berwyn have been given the lowest possible performance rating with major issues concerning assaults on staff, illicit items and affairs with staff, new data reveals.

Fifteen male prisons received the lowest rating of 'serious concern' in the 12 months to March, up from just nine in 2023. No female prisons were given the lowest rating.

The worst performing prison in England and Wales in the last year was Lowdham Grange, receiving an overall performance score of 42.3 percent.

It was closely followed by Bedford (45.7 percent), Portland (45.9 percent), Winchester (46.3 percent), Lewes (46.3 percent) and Wandsworth (46.8 percent).

Among the worst prisons in the country are several at the centre of high-profile scandals involving prison officers having affairs with male inmates, overcrowding and squalid conditions.

Last month prison officer Linda De Sousa Abreu was arrested after being filmed having sex with an inmate at HMP Wandsworth.

The prison, which experts have been raising concerns about for months, also saw the alleged escape of former soldier Daniel Khalife as he awaited trial for terrorism charges.

Now data published by the Ministry of Justice has revealed the prison had the highest number of assaults in the year to March 2024, with 970 separate incidents.

Close behind were HMP Berwyn with 799, Parc with 762 and Thameside with 680.

At Berwyn, three female prison officers were jailed in three years for their relationships with inmates.

Jennifer Gavan, 27, was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to misconduct in public office for attempting to smuggle in a mobile phone for Alex Coxon, 25.

The pair exchanged photos on Snapchat and kissed during their relationship in 2020.

Ayshea Gunn, 27, meanwhile made some 1,200 phone calls to 'dangerous' robber Khuram Razaq as he served a 12-year sentence.

And Emily Watson, 26, was jailed for a year after a court heard she embarked on a sexual relationship with inmate John McGee.

The court heard Watson had been alone with McGee in his cell on three occasions, when she twice performed a sex act on him. The pair also had sex once.

And at HMP Parcprison in Bridgend nurse Elyse-May Hibbs was jailed for striking up an affair with drug dealer Harry Pullen.

The troubled prison is being probed over the deaths of six inmates within three weeks earlier this year.

Across the whole of England and Wales prisons reported a total of more than 28,292 assaults.

Some 9,847 of these were attacks on prison employees, while the rest were prisoner-on-prisoner incidents.

Wandsworth again had the highest number of prisoner on staff assaults with more than half - 525 - of incidents involving staff in the last 12 months.

Five Wells, Lowdham Grange and Parc also had high levels of assaults on staff, with more than 200 apiece for the 12 months to March.

Earlier this year footage emerged of a brutal attack on a prison officer by two inmates,Marzin Moshen, 20, and Finley Phillips, 19, at Parc prison.

The pair had gotten into a fight and when officer Ryan Young attempted to intervene he was knocked our cold and badly beaten by the thugs.

High levels of assault, squalid conditions and staff shortages have all been blamed for the droves of officers leaving the profession.

A lack of support for mentally ill prisoners has also been highlighted as a factor, with employees increasingly stretched by alarming rates of self-harm.

The last year saw an increase in incidents of self-harm among male prisoners rise 25 percent, to 852 incidents per 1,000 prisoners.

With the prison service facing crises including overcrowding and staffing, the Ministry of Justice admitted it isn't even able to produce reliable estimates as it seeks to tackle a surge of illicit items being smuggled inside for inmates.

In the 12 months to March 2024, there were 51,452 random mandatory drug tests (rMDT) carried out in England and Wales.

This was lower than in 2019-20 when over 54,000 tests were conducted. In the 12 months to March 2024, the number of tests did not meet expected levels in any month and were below the almost 57,000 tests expected over the year.

The Ministry of Justice said this means tests have again failed 'to return to the levels required for reliable national or establishment-level estimates.'

Despite not reaching searching targets, the levels of drugs discovered in prisons in England and Wales rose by 44 percent to March 2024.

This amounted to more than 21,000 incidents of drug finds, with a further 10,669 mobile phones and 11,641 weapon discoveries - increases of 36 an 24 percent.

Only a couple of the worst-performing prisons in England and Wales saw high levels of drug discoveries, but it is unclear if this is due to fewer searches.

But at Five Wells in Wellingborough, a staggering 12.2kg of drugs were discovered in the last year alone.

Meanwhile Kirkham saw the most phones discovered at 684, with Wandsworth second with 579.