Prison’s plastic-cutlery problem

Britain’s jails are so dilapidated that prisoners are using plastic cutlery to dig holes through their cell walls in a bid to escape, the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has claimed.

POA officials wrote to Winchester prison chiefs last year warning that three inmates had “dug through their cell walls” and demanded the wing be cleared to allow structural engineers to check the building’s fabric.

The union says prisoners at the jail have managed to dig holes with cutlery in cell walls near the doors on a dozen occasions, with at least two inmates subsequently found on their wing’s landings at night.

The Ministry of Justice denied that anyone had escaped their cells.

Winchester jail’s Independent Monitoring Board says the Victorian prison’s buildings, which date back to 1846, require “significant” maintenance. Describing accommodation as unacceptable and the conditions as “unpleasant and dirty”, the board said: “Cells regularly need repair because of wear and tear or vandalism.” Mark Fairhurst, POA chairman, said: “Prisoners are tunnelling their way out. They are getting through the walls and end up on the landing.”