Urgent alert over 'fundamentally unsafe' Nottingham prison

The prisons watchdog has demanded action after finding lives are at risk at the "fundamentally unsafe" Nottingham Prison.

Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke used a new urgent notification system for the first time to alert Justice Secretary David Gauke to his concerns over the safety of prisoners and staff.

Nottingham Prison was inspected on 8 January - the third inspection in a little over three years.

Between the 2016 and 2018 inspections, levels of self-harm had risen "very significantly" and eight prisoners were believed to have taken their own lives.

Only two of 13 "crucial" recommendations on safety made in 2016 were fully achieved.

There were high levels of drugs, violence and assaults, HM Inspectorate of Prisons said.

Mr Clarke said in a letter to Mr Gauke: "It appears that the problems at Nottingham are intractable and that staff there are unable to improve safety despite the fact that this failing increases the vulnerability both of those who are held in the prison and of those who work there."

Under the new urgent notification process introduced in November, the chief inspector can inform the secretary of state of any urgent and severe prison problems found during an inspection.

Mr Gauke then has 28 days to report on the measures he has taken to resolve the issues.

"Inspection findings at HMP Nottingham tell a story of dramatic decline since 2010," Mr Clarke said.

"The principal reason I have decided to issue an urgent notification... is because for the third time in a row HMI Prisons has found the prison to be fundamentally unsafe.

"Irrefutable evidence of the failure to respond to HMI Prisons' inspection findings at Nottingham can be seen not only in the gradings given as a result of the latest inspection, but also in the progress made in implementing previous recommendations," he added.

HMP Nottingham is a Category B prison, with a capacity of 1,060.