London prison healthcare was worse than the national average for men’s prisons in key areas, according to prisoner survey data.
Surveys taken from each prison’s most recent HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) report show they lagged behind England and Wales for ease of access to, and quality of service from, healthcare professionals.
Other poorly performing areas included support for those with alcohol problems, support for prisoners with disabilities, prisoner mental health, and the ease with which illicit substances like alcohol are accessed.
Wandsworth prison scored worse than the national average in every comparable area including accessing alcohol, difficulty accessing healthcare professionals, and prisoner mental health, which was more than four times worse.
The 2024 HMIP inspection of the category B prison triggered an Urgent Notification to the Justice Secretary by Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor.
Taylor cited in his reasoning: “Consistent failures to enable access to healthcare services due to prison staff absences resulted in important assessment and treatment interventions being curtailed.”
The mother of a former Wandsworth prisoner who did not wish to be named said: “He described the healthcare in there as ‘disgusting’.
“My son’s been in quite a few prisons, and he said this is the worst he’s ever been to and he never wants to go back.”
Former Wandsworth Quaker chaplain Liz Bridge, now runs the Wandsworth Prison Improvement Campaign group, said: “The wards you can go to where you would be in a hospital bed in the prison are disgusting.
“Vermin were visible. The accommodation was very small.
“The doors weren’t big enough for trolleys or for wheelchairs. They weren’t big enough for a nurse to be to be on both sides of your bed.”
Bridge was banned from volunteering in all prisons for five years in 2023 after small payments she made to soon-to-be-released prisoners were deemed by the prison to be a major security breach.
She said: “You can hardly walk in that prison without smelling cannabis, it’s everywhere.”
This viewpoint reflects Wandsworth prisoners’, with Wandsworth scoring the worst in the capital for accessing illicit substances.
More than half of 2024 respondents said it was easy to get drugs, almost double the 26% response rate in its previous 2021 inspection.
Additionally, 71% of Wandsworth respondents experienced delays accessing medication and 61% with accessing outside medical appointments.
The Wandsworth inmate’s mother said: “He was diagnosed with ADHD as a child, and they wouldn’t give him his medication. He self-harmed, and when he actually got to see healthcare, they just shouted at him.
“He never got the medication.
“He needed a tooth taken out, and for some reason, the dentist wouldn’t do it. I think he took it out himself, he was in that much pain.”
Similarly, just 7% of Wandsworth prisoners said it was easy to see a dentist.
In its 2024 report, HMIP said: “Prisoners often missed important appointments and were unable to collect critical medication, which posed serious potential risks to health.”
Wandsworth dental provider Prison Centred Dental Care said in response: “We take allegations like this very seriously, as patient well-being is at the heart of our mission.
“Our records show that emergency dental care is available for acute needs, and treatment plans are prioritised based on clinical urgency.”
Meanwhile, the last prisoner survey at HMP Pentonville suggested it was the worst prison in London for quality of dental care, accessing a dentist, and accessing a nurse.
A spokesperson for health provider Practice Plus Group said: “The data relating to delays in healthcare at HMP Pentonville dates back to July 2022, when COVID had impacted the delivery of healthcare in prisons, as it did in the community.
“Today, patients can expect to see a dentist in two to six weeks, which is comparable and often better than access to dental care in the community. We continually work hard to provide the best possible service to our patients.”
However, it trended better in recent inspections for accessing drugs and alcohol, scoring more positively than the national average in its most recent inspection.
Daniel Brown, 31, served stints in several London prisons over a seven-year period, the last of which was nine months in Pentonville before his release in July 2022.
Brown said he started offending to fund a drug and alcohol addiction caused by his father’s declining health.
He explained: “I started off from petty crime and then it escalated. I then ended up robbing shops at knifepoint. My last sentence was for kicking the door in of a pub and taking the stock. It was a dark place and dark time.”
He described the ‘shocking’ conditions at the Victorian prison during his first time there.
He added: “The regime was 23 and a half hours in a cell. Most of the time you’ve either got no running water or leaky pipes, or a window smashed out so it’s open to the elements.
“If you put a dog in a room where there’s water leaking from the ceiling and all that, they’d nick you for animal cruelty.”
According to Brown, prior to new investment, poor conditions and staffing issues impacted prisoner mental health and could explain rampant drug use at Pentonville.
He added: “You’ve got 2,500 potential customers in a room for 23 and a half hours a day. No meaningful use of time, away from family.
“You could get what they classed as a serious incident on another wing, so then the prison goes in lockdown, so nobody gets out.”
Now volunteering to speak at AA meetings and give seminars in prisons including Pentonville, Brown said the introduction of a drug recovery wing in his final stint changed his situation.
The wing was set up by drug strategy lead Natalie Adams and opened in 2021.
Brown said: “The drug and alcohol-free wing was like a different world compared to the rest of the prison.
“It was pioneering. You’d be let out your cell in the morning, in the afternoon you get to do yoga and stuff.
“They would facilitate Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and if you had a problem with drugs, NA (Narcotics Anonymous) meetings, you do voluntary drug and alcohol testing.
“Everybody was there because they were serious about getting their life back on track.”
Image credit: Daniel Brown
Brown works closely with the Chance to Change foundation’s Friends of Pentonville project, founded by prison chaplain Revd Jonathan Aitken – a former Conservative cabinet minister who himself served prison time for perjury.
Re-visiting Pentonville with Aitken to deliver seminars, Brown said he was encouraged to see new investment in prison security, a prisoner-led bike repair workshop, and a new neurodiversity unit for prisoners with complex needs.
For Bridge, issues at Wandsworth can be traced back to staffing issues which illustrate wider problems with the prison system.
He explained: “The application for a job as a prison officer is an online form. The governor to the prison never gets to interview you before you arrive in the prison.
“Once you’ve got through the online system, you go into a very short period of training and then you arrive in the prison, so you may not be very suitable at all for the job.
“We have developed an attitude that prison officers don’t matter.
“You wouldn’t recruit nurses and you wouldn’t recruit schoolteachers without a face to face interview – why does society not hold prison officers as just as important?”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “This Government inherited prisons in crisis – overcrowded, with drugs and violence rife.
“The Lord Chancellor has announced a £100 million investment into HMP Wandsworth alongside additional extra specialist staff, to ensure immediate action is taken to improve conditions.”
Cover image: diamond geezer on Flickr
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