![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/hmp-bristol-among-most-unsafe-in-the-country/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/130573210_dde9de14-0729-4821-9859-0b4df9329a8c.jpg&description=Image source, Google Image caption, The prison is overcrowded and run down, inspectors found A damning report has found HMP Bristol has "chronic and intractable" problems. An inspection between 10 and 20 July found levels of violence against both inmates and staff were higher than most other prisons in the country. Almost half of detainees said it was easy to get drugs, and there have been seven suspected suicides in the last 10 months. Prisons Minister Damian Hinds said the Ministry of Justice was taking "urgent action" to turn the prison around. In an "urgent notification" letter to the Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said failings observed in a last inspection in 2019 persisted and it remained "one of the most unsafe prisons in the country". Inspectors found almost half the prisoners were living in double cells designed for one person, and the cells in one wing were without internal sanitation. But despite this, the capacity of the prison has continued to increase, with the prison taking in an average of 55 new inmates per week. Substance abuse was also rife, with 46% of prisoners saying it was easy to get drugs. Mr Taylor said most prisoners were locked up for almost 22 hours a day, while attendance at skills, education and work programmes was "poor". Recorded rates of self-harm had risen by 16% since the last inspection, and Bristol now has the third-highest rate of all prisons of its type. Efforts to reduce self-harm were too limited, inspectors said, and did not focus on issues such as levels of violence, threat, debt and inconsistent access to purposeful activity. This led to a "sense of hopelessness" the report added. Image caption, Prisoners were left with a "sense of hopelessness", the report found Mental health provision was found to be insufficient and inspectors found there were often long delays in transferring acutely unwell prisoners to secure psychiatric hospitals. Emergency cell bells often went an answered){kind=link}
A damning report has found HMP Bristol has “chronic and intractable” problems.
An inspection between 10 and 20 July found levels of violence against both inmates and staff were higher than most other prisons in the country.
Almost half of detainees said it was easy to get drugs, and there have been seven suspected suicides in the last 10 months.
Prisons Minister Damian Hinds said the Ministry of Justice was taking “urgent action” to turn the prison around.
In an “urgent notification” letter to the Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said failings observed in a last inspection in 2019 persisted and it remained “one of the most unsafe prisons in the country”.