Wandsworth inspection report 2024

Summary

Built 170 years ago, Wandsworth prison in south London has come to epitomise the decaying inner city Victorian institution, symbolic of the problems that characterise what is worst. An overcrowded reception prison with a significant turnover of population, at the time of the inspection it held over 1,500 men. Of these, half were on remand and nearly half were foreign nationals, with the level of need perhaps best evidenced in the near 500 individuals requiring some form of mental health referral each month. The findings of our inspection led me to write, in accordance with the protocol I have with the Ministry of Justice, to the Secretary of State invoking the Urgent Notification (UN) process on 8 May 2024. In that letter, and in the inspection debriefing paper that accompanied it, I set out my concerns. Under the protocol, the Secretary of State commits to respond publicly to the UN within 28 days, explaining how outcomes for those detained will be improved.

Inspection ratings