Prison in crisis

Tuesday 7th March 2006, 12:00AM GMT.

SERIOUS overcrowding, understaffing and some of the worst accommodation she has ever seen mean La Moye is in crisis, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons said today.

Anne Owers has delivered the scathing findings of her official report which paints a grim picture of an institution starved of the tools to educate, train or rehabilitate its inmates.

One of the only rays of hope that her team found was the very good relations between staff and prisoners, without which she said the jail would probably fall apart.

Many officers were found to step in and offer informal counselling, support and even help released inmates find jobs.

The inspectors unearthed evidence that bullying was rife, drugs were freely available and the racist taunting of inmates and staff went unchallenged.

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