Wandsworth inspection report 2022
Report for Wandsworth Prison
Summary
The decision by the prison service to reduce the number of prisoners held at Wandsworth by 300, as well as the work of the dynamic and experienced governor, had stopped this busy local prison from being overwhelmed by its many challenges. There were not enough staff to make sure prisoners received even the most basic regime; for example, they sometimes had to choose between exercise, ordering from the kiosk and having a shower. Gym sessions were regularly cancelled and much of the essential resettlement and sentence progression work was not happening because prison offender managers and PE staff were deployed on the wings to backfill staff absences. One group of prisoners from Trinity Unit, who came blinking into the sunlight, told me that it was the first time they had been outside for more than a week. The education provider had failed to do enough to engage prisoners or develop learning opportunities for a population that was desperately bored. The education block had sat unused since March 2020 and most of the very limited provision came in the form of work packs.