Eighteen months after a damning report branded conditions “appalling” and warned it was among the UK’s most violent prisons, Strangeways has seen little meaningful improvement. Despite being placed under urgent pressure to reform, HMP Manchester remains in a “precarious state,” with inspectors warning that drug use is still widespread, according to a new report published today (April 14).
Large quantities of drugs are still being smuggled via drones through broken windows allowing organised crime gangs to ’operate with impunity’. These drugs, the report says, ’contributes to serious violence which threatens the safety of prisoners and staff’.
Almost one in four inmates at the crumbling Victorian jail tested positive for illicit substances, one of the highest rates in England and Wales. Rates of serious assaults remained very high and violence against staff had actually increased since the last inspection.
Meanwhile Strangeways continues to battle an ongoing rodent infestation, with one wing in particular found to ’smell strongly of rat urine’, the HM Inspectorate of Prisons report said.
Inspectors also found the kitchens were ’often filthy’ while outside prison yards were ’heavily littered’. The latest damning report comes after the prison was effectively placed in special measures when inspectors issued an ’urgent notification’ which required the Government to develop a response and action plan within 28 days.
An October 2024 report laid bare life inside the ’squalid’ jail, where standards where said to have completely collapsed. Inspectors referenced a ’concerning decline’ and said organised crime gangs and the supply of drugs were ’clearly undermining every aspect of prison life’.
In a catalogue of disturbing findings, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said HMP Manchester had the highest rate of serious assaults of any prison in the country. Strangeways, he added, was ’fundamentally not safe’ - both for prisoners and staff working there.
Despite the dire warning, 18 months later little has changed. Inspectors said the prison ’was not doing enough’ to support inmates at risk of suicide or self-harm. Four men had taken their own lives since the last inspection and the rate of self-harm remained ’extremely high’ compared to similar jails.
Strangeways also experienced ’very high levels’ of staff sickness, while the prison was operating at 30% below its full complement of staff due ’difficulties’ in recruitment and delays in security vetting. That meant the prison regime - the daily routine of meals, exercise and education - was frequently cancelled.
Meanwhile its 550 inmates - around half of whom are serving life sentences - were found to be locked in their cells for ’very long periods of time’, with unemployed prisoners, around 44 per cent of the population, spending fewer than three hours a day out of their cells. Prison bosses were said to be ’frustrated’ at the slow progress in fitting secure windows, grilles and upgraded CCTV in a bid to tackle the drone and drugs problem.
Four staff had been employed to target potential drone attacks, which had led to a ’substantial increase in finds of illicit items’. Police had also arrested a number of suspected smugglers.
Inspectors also found that ’drastic cuts’ of more than 50% to the education budget meant that the number of teachers had reduced dramatically. Ofsted rated the education provision inside the prison as ’inadequate’.
The findings are likely to lead to renewed calls for Strangeways to be moved out of central Manchester. The council wrote to the Government in 2022, arguing HMP Manchester was ’coming to the end of its natural lifespan’ and was not suitable for the ’significant remodelling and expansion’ needed to bring it up to modern-day standards.
At the time the Ministry of Justice said there were no plans to close or relocate the jail, saying it was working with the then Government for modernisation.
What HM Chief Inspector of Prisons said
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said the inspection found 15 areas of concern at Strangeways, six of which required immediate attention. He said that while bosses had begun to make some progress in ’critical areas’ and had worked improve the ’stability’ of the prison, HMP Manchester remained in a ’precarious state’ was ’continuing to perform at unacceptably low levels’.
He said: "Leaders at Manchester had made a determined effort to start grappling with some of the issues identified in 2024 and we saw some early evidence of improvement. However, without more determined action from HMPPS to improve physical security, drugs will continue to undermine those efforts.
"That work must be prioritised, and issues around staff recruitment and education provision tackled, if Manchester is to deliver the rehabilitative activity that prisoners need to successfully re-establish themselves in society when they are released."
What can be done?
Tyrone Steele, from legal reform charity Justice, described the report as ’sobering reading’ and called for more investment in training and education for inmates.
He said: "Across the board what being going on in prisons has been a slow-moving car crash. We have seen the prison population steadily increase, but at the same time funding has been reduced.
"The fundamental aim of the prison system should be to set people up for success when they are released. At Strangeways we’ve seen the education budget slashed by 50%, people in prisons cells for more than 20 hours a day and 44% unemployed.
"If those are the conditions it’s no surprise to see a lot of the conditions the report highlights. This is not a unique situation, but it is one that is brought to the fore by this report."
Andrea Coomber KC, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, called on Strangeways bosses to give inmates more time outside their cells and improve employment rates. She said: "It is a sign of the intense pressure the prison system is under when a jail that was effectively put in special measures 15 months ago is still unable to protect people living and working there from harm. Drugs are a destructive force in prisons.
"Security is vitally important, but the most effective way to reduce their supply is to reduce demand for them in the first place. When almost half of people held at Manchester prison are unemployed and spending more than 21 hours a day locked in their cells, is it any wonder that rates of drug use and violence are sky-high?"
What the Government say
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "This is a prison operating under immense pressure after this Government inherited a prison system at the peak of its crisis. We took immediate action to bring the system back from the point of collapse and while we welcome inspectors recognising the strong leadership now in place at HMP Manchester, we are taking urgent action to stop drones, upgrade security and tackle the flow of drugs which fuels violence behind bars."
Lifestyle & Culture Editor
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
