Pentonville Prison is 'crumbling and rife with vermin'

Drugs, weapons and mobile phones are being smuggled into the "overcrowded and crumbling" HMP Pentonville, a watchdog has warned.

Inspectors found old windows at the north London jail had not been replaced, vermin was "rife" and inmates went weeks without outdoor exercise.

The Independent Monitoring Board's (IMB) report said the prison was in need of investment.

The Ministry of Justice said repair work at Pentonville "is under way".

Opened in 1842, Pentonville is one of the country's busiest prisons, with about 33,000 movements a year through its reception.

At the end of last month, the state-run jail was holding 1,215 men. However, the IMB said the jail was only "certified to hold 900".

Faulty windows flagged up in 2016 are still insecure and compromise the safety of staff and inmates, according to the latest report.

It found that, despite a recommendation, not a single external window grille had been replaced.

There had been an increase in gang-related incidents during gatherings for prayer. On one occasion, a fight erupted and ministers had to run for cover.

The board said Pentonville had many energetic and committed staff but there were too few officers for most of the year.

Wings were shut down for three or four half-days a week, activities and association time were restricted and some prisoners went weeks without exercise in the fresh air.

"Persistent overcrowding and the crumbling physical environment are incompatible with maintaining prisoners' humanity and dignity," the report said.

Safety and conditions behind bars in England and Wales have been under the spotlight since the chief inspector of prisons Peter Clarke warned HMP Birmingham had fallen into a state of crisis.

In a report published on Monday, Mr Clarke detailed "appalling" squalor and violence at the privately managed prison, which the government has now taken over.

A spokesperson from the Prison Service said the government "are investing £16m across the estate to bring prisons back up to acceptable standards and work is under way to fix Pentonville's old windows and grilles with around 60% already replaced".

They said there had also been a reduction in drug use "thanks to new netting, as well as regular sniffer dog and staff-led searches" and 35 new prison officers had been recruited for the jail.