‘City inmates are missing out on daily showers’
NEARLY a quarter of prison inmates in Cardiff do not have access to a daily shower, figures have revealed.
Data released by prison watchdog the Howard League for Penal Reform show just 77% of prisoners at HMP Cardiff said they could shower every day in 2016.
The report paints a damning picture of prison conditions in parts of the country.
HMP Swansea also fared particularly badly, with 65% of prisoners claiming they had been given access to a shower every day. Belmarsh prison in southeast London had the worst rating of all 119 surveyed, with just 17% of prisoners claiming they were allowed to shower every day.
In contrast, the adult unit at HMP Parc, Bridgend, and its young persons unit presented figures of 96% and 84% respectively. Just 3% of prisoners at Usk Prison said they didn’t have access to a daily shower. Only three prisons in the UK had a 100% success rating.
Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “The government has said that it wants prisons to be clean and decent, but is ignoring the fact that thousands of children and adult men are smelly and dirty because they cannot get a shower.
“It’s no good cleaning up prisons if prisoners are not able to keep clean.
“If we want people to be work ready, and ready to reintegrate to lead a good and useful life, people in prison must be at least able to have a shower every morning, eat breakfast and face the day with purpose.
“Squalor and idleness will not ready people to be law-abiding citizens on release.
“Bold action is needed to reduce the number of people behind bars and ease pressure on a prison system that is failing everyone.”
A Prison Service spokeswoman said: “All prisoners have access to washing facilities every day, and the statistics demonstrate that the vast majority of prisoners have daily access to showers.
“We are committed to improving decency and living conditions across the estate, and the 3,500 additional prison officers we have recently recruited will improve regimes, including access to showers.”