INMATES at a Doncaster Prison are having to sleep in the toilet area of their cells to ease overcrowding, according to a damning watchdog report following an unannounced visit.
Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers said that two-person cells at HMP Doncaster had been turned into three-person cells by placing a bed in the shared toilet.
The category B jail, ranked in the top five most overcrowded in the country, had an o
perational capacity of 1,145 at the time of the unannounced visit by inspectors in February.
Inspectors also found that there had been a worrying deterioration in healthcare, with inmates having poor access to both GPs and dentists and that incidents of violence and self harm had increased.
Although HMP Doncaster had made progress in some areas, including resettlement, Anne Owers said more needs to be done to ensure safety, improve healthcare and increase purposeful activity.
Anne Owers said: "Doncaster has addressed a number of the criticisms that we made on our last visit, and continued to make good progress in areas such as resettlement. However, there is much still to do, not least to ensure that safety is maintained and the serious deficits in healthcare urgently addressed.
"There has also been a disappointing lack of progress in responding to our previous concerns about the inadequate quantity and quality of purposeful activity.
"Nevertheless, there is much that is positive at Doncaster. The director and his staff need to build on these attributes, while addressing the outstanding concerns set out in this report."
The full article contains 261 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
