You have committed a crime and been sent to jail. What will your life as a prisoner look like? Thanks to the prison watchdog’s new report on Wandsworth Prison, released this month, the horrific reality has been laid bare for all to see.
This imposing building is a category B facility, in a system where D holds the lowest risk prisoners. When it was built in 1851 it was intended for 964 inhabitants to be held in ‘safe and decent accommodation’. Now, due to overcrowding, the prison is home to 1,513 men. And each week, 130 more are admitted.
Let’s imagine you are one of them. You arrive, fresh from your sentencing. You have to mill around for four or five hours before getting sent to the induction unit. There, you watch a video, which you have 50/50 chance of understanding (half the prisoners at Wandsworth don’t speak fluent English and the video has not been translated). This means you will likely feel totally confused and unprepared for your stay. You are likely scared. On the bright side, the video is apparently more “engaging” than it used to be.
Eventually, you are led to your cell. For some solitude, you might hope. But no. You’ve only got a one in five chance of that. Even though these cells are miniscule, cramped and designed for one person, you are overwhelmingly likely to be sharing with another person – due to the prison being almost double capacity. It’s hard to overstate the impact of this. You will be with this person, another prisoner, almost constantly without any supervision.
You take a........