{"id":173267,"date":"2024-11-12T13:36:12","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T13:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/12\/rat-urine-smell-overpowering-at-squalid-and-decrepit-prison-watchdog-says\/"},"modified":"2024-11-12T13:36:12","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T13:36:12","slug":"rat-urine-smell-overpowering-at-squalid-and-decrepit-prison-watchdog-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/12\/rat-urine-smell-overpowering-at-squalid-and-decrepit-prison-watchdog-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Rat urine smell ‘overpowering’ at ‘squalid’ and ‘decrepit’ prison, watchdog says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rat<\/div>


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A rat infestation at a failing prison was so bad inmates were forced to block gaps under their cell doors with cardboard and towels, a report has found.<\/p>\n

The smell of rat urine was “overpowering” in some areas of HMP Rochester in Kent<\/strong><\/a>, chief inspector for prisons Charlie Taylor said.<\/p>\n

The report detailed the “squalid” and “decrepit” conditions, rising violence, self-harm and widespread drug use at the prison.<\/p>\n

The conditions have led the watchdog to put the lower security jail into special measures and call on the justice secretary to make improvements.<\/p>\n

Rochester prison had been condemned for closure in 2017 but remained open due to the overcrowding crisis in jails, Mr Taylor said in the latest inspection in August.<\/p>\n

Drug use at the category C prison, which holds more than 700 men, was “endemic” and there was a growing number of attacks on staff, the report said.<\/p>\n

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The jail was “fundamentally failing in its rehabilitative purpose as a category C training and resettlement prison,” with some of the worst conditions inspectors had seen in recent years.<\/p>\n

“Staff and prisoners told us that rats and mice regularly entered cells and offices on the older wings,” the report said.<\/p>\n

“Prisoners resorted to creating barriers from cardboard or towels to fill gaps under cell doors to keep vermin out.”<\/p>\n

It added: “The smell of rat urine in some areas was overpowering.<\/p>\n

“Throughout the inspection, both staff and prisoners complained about the infestation.<\/p>\n

“Staff showed us where the rats had come in through ducting and around pipes.<\/p>\n

“It was evident that mice were also commonplace, and on some wings nearly all prisoners put makeshift barriers beneath their cell doors to try to keep rodents out.”<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:
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Trump set to appoint ‘hawkish’ secretary of state – reports<\/a>
‘Game-changer’ stop-smoking pill to be offered on NHS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Report ‘underlines terrible situation’ government ‘inherited’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrea Coomber, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “This report into Rochester prison underlines the terrible situation that the current government inherited on taking office.<\/p>\n

“But it also underlines the fact that government ministers can only use that as an excuse for so long.”<\/p>\n

Despite welcoming recent efforts to tackle problems in prisons, she warned: “If we are still seeing inspection reports like this in a year’s time, then the government will have only itself to blame.”<\/p>\n

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Security measures will be reviewed, cells are being refurbished and more effort will be made to get prisoners into training and education, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A rat infestation at a failing prison was so bad inmates were forced to block gaps under their cell doors with cardboard and towels, a report has found. The smell of rat urine was “overpowering” in some areas of HMP Rochester in Kent, chief inspector for prisons Charlie Taylor said. The report detailed the “squalid” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/11\/768x432\/skynews-rochester-hmp-prison_6746394.jpg?20241112093315","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[135231,135230,5918,38713,21711,112199,112586,7240],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173267"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173269,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173267\/revisions\/173269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}