HMP Wandsworth has made significant progress since last year’s crisis but continues to fail prisoners through severe staffing shortages and inhumane living conditions, according to an independent watchdog report published this week.
The Independent Monitoring Board’s annual report reveals that despite new leadership and strategic improvements at the Wandsworth prison, an average of one-third of staff were absent every day during the reporting period from June 2024 to May 2025, forcing prisoners to spend up to 22 hours locked in cramped, often freezing cells.
The 32-page report [pdf] paints a picture of an institution struggling against systemic problems beyond its control: centrally-managed recruitment delivering inadequately trained staff, and a crumbling 170-year-old building where boiler failures left cells at 12 degrees in winter and broken showers remained thick with mould.
“The improvement in the prison’s performance after the disastrous situation last year is welcomed,” said Matthew Andrews, chair of the Independent Monitoring Board. “However, until the serious staffing issues are properly addressed, the prison’s efforts to improve further will be severely hampered.”
Staff crisis undermines daily operations
The staffing crisis proved the most significant barrier to reform. According to the report, while the prison maintained full staffing on paper, chronic absence rates meant that on any given day, around one-third of officers were unavailable for duty due to sickness, restricted duties, or training.
In August 2024, 32% of Band 3 officers were unavailable. While this briefly improved to 23% in October, by April 2025 the figure had risen back to 37%. The prison holding close to 1,500 men was often being run by fewer than 85 officers.
“The lack of available staff, their inexperience and, frequently, their demotivated attitude hampered the ability of the prison to provide an acceptable level of care and regime for prisoners,” the report states.
The IMB places responsibility for poor recruitment quality squarely on HM Prison and Probation Service’s centralised system. “Staff recruitment is managed centrally. The prison is not involved but is affected by, and judged on, the performance of those staff,” the report notes, adding that many new recruits after just nine weeks of training were “unwilling or incapable of pulling together as a team.”
Staff shortages had direct consequences for prisoners. The report documents how men were frequently denied sufficient time out of cells, impacting exercise, showers, access to the prison shop, attendance at education and activities, and even medical care. Food was often served at cell doors rather than at the servery.
On numerous occasions, an “up-down” regime was implemented, where two residential wings on Heathfield would be completely shut down in the morning and the other two in the afternoon. During open periods, prisoners were restricted to either exercise or domestic time, but not both.
Victorian building creates inhumane conditions
The prison’s physical infrastructure presented equally severe problems. Over 90% of prisoners were required to share cells originally constructed in the Victorian era for single occupancy. Toilets were located in cells with only curtains – often missing or broken – offering minimal privacy.
The condition of showers remained poor throughout the year. Board members observed rubbish, rat droppings and vermin in shower areas, with thick mould on ceilings due to inadequate ventilation. Shower doors were frequently broken.
The state of the prison’s boilers proved particularly problematic. During January’s cold spell, prolonged periods without heating meant temperatures on wing landings dropped to 10 degrees centigrade and cells reached just 12 degrees. Replacement boilers were eventually installed on Heathfield in February, but heating and hot water issues continued, including water becoming so hot due to thermostat problems that prisoners couldn’t shower.
In Trinity, only a temporary rather than replacement boiler was fitted. Fuel was often not ordered or delivered on time, leaving prisoners without hot water or heating.
“Unless fundamental changes and upgrades are made to the prison, it will remain inhumane and unfit for purpose,” the report concludes.
Some progress acknowledged
The report does acknowledge measurable improvements in several areas following last year’s Urgent Notification by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, which found the prison had reached an unacceptable level.
Violence levels fell significantly, with prisoner-on-staff assaults dropping 31% to 354 incidents, and prisoner-on-prisoner assaults falling 18% to 360. Self-harm incidents decreased 21% to 726. The report describes this as “a marked reversal of a trend of increasing violence since 2017.”
Security improvements also showed progress. After a prisoner escaped in September 2023, an HMPPS security audit identified 81 points of failure. By May 2025, these had been reduced to just three “significant” failures and one “critical” failure involving external escort processes, which were immediately addressed.
An Independent Review of Progress by HM Inspectorate of Prisons in March-April 2025 noted improvements in many areas, praising new leadership for changing management culture and strengthening the safety team.
The long-delayed Nightingale healthcare centre finally became partially operational in May 2025, though the report notes it was “three years late” and suffered from numerous design flaws, including a dental suite with no plumbing and a door too narrow for the dentist’s chair.
Questions for government
The IMB’s report poses direct questions to the Minister for Prisons about the Government’s promised £100m investment following last year’s Urgent Notification: “How much has actually been spent and on what?”
It also challenges the Ministry of Justice on inadequate support for foreign national prisoners, who comprise nearly half the prison population, and asks what steps are being taken to improve training and reject unsuitable candidates in the recruitment process.
The Board requests updates on a pilot scheme at HMP Berwyn testing whether local involvement in recruitment delivers better results than the centralised system.
At the time of publication, HMPPS and the prison Governor had not responded to requests for comment on the report’s findings.
The Independent Monitoring Board is part of the UK’s National Preventive Mechanism under international human rights conventions, with a statutory role to monitor treatment and conditions in custody. Its 17 volunteer members made 694 visits to the prison during the reporting period.
HMP Wandsworth is located on Heathfield Road in Wandsworth. The prison holds approximately 1,500 men, primarily on remand awaiting trial, with a significant foreign national population from 80 countries.
