'Squalid' Liverpool prison worst inspectors have ever seen

"Squalid" Liverpool prison is the worst inspectors have ever seen, with inmates living among rats and cockroaches and drugs and other illicit items rife.

In a scathing report, HM Inspectorate of Prisons said drones carrying in drugs and contraband items were a "substantial problem" and being seized at a rate of one a week.

A total of 1,155 men were being held at HMP Liverpool when it was assessed in September.

Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke said the prison had failed to act following a previous inspection in 2015, when 89 recommendations were made.

He said there was an "abject failure... to offer a safe, decent and purposeful environment".

The damning report found:

:: Of those prisoners assessed, more than a third (37.5%) tested positive for drug use.

:: More than a third of prisoners said they felt unsafe and half said they had been victimised by staff.

:: Some cells had broken windows and emergency call bells that did not work; some areas had rats and cockroaches.

:: Prisoners with mental health problems waited several months for an appointment.

:: There was a backlog of some 2,000 maintenance tasks.

:: Violence of all kinds had increased, with assaults on staff more than tripling since the 2015 assessment.

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Mr Clarke wrote in his report: "The inspection team was highly experienced and could not recall having seen worse living conditions than those at HMP Liverpool.

"The presence of inspectors seemed to provoke some piecemeal and superficial attempts at cleaning and the like, but the fear was that this would stop as soon as we left, which is clearly what happened after the last inspection."

He criticised the "squalid" environment and said many cells were "not fit to be used".

One recently released prisoner told Sky News: "It's absolutely appalling in there. They do absolutely nothing for you."

Having also been in a number of other prisons, he said HMP Liverpool was "a different world compared to the other ones".

"If you're scared of going to hell, trust me, come in here and you're not going to be scared of going to hell after this.

"I know we're criminals, we've done something wrong... but at the end of the day it's inhumane."

The Commons Justice Committee is to hold an evidence session on the findings next week.

Michael Spurr, chief executive of HM Prison and Probation Service, acknowledged conditions at the prison were "unacceptable" and said "immediate" action was taken to fix the situation following the assessment.

A new governor has been appointed, cleanliness has been improved and the maintenance backlog almost halved, he said.

"We are committed to fixing this, have already made changes where we can, and have today published a comprehensive action plan to address the chief inspector's concerns."