A prison is not fit for purpose because of its low standards and failure to do more to prevent eight people taking their own lives over the past six years, a watchdog has said.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) said each of the deaths at Swansea prison were within the first week of arrival.
Four of those happened before an inspection in 2014 and the latest visit found lessons had not been learnt. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) said action was taken. Inspectors also found issues with violence, overcrowding and self-harm.
The Prison Governors Association said the “issues highlighted in the Swansea report are fairly systemic across the prison system”.
Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke said the inspection in August 2017 was “very disappointing”.”Between our last inspection in 2014 and when we went back in the middle of last year there have been four further self-inflicted deaths – all in similar circumstances, all in the early days of the individual’s imprisonment at Swansea jail,” Mr Clarke said. “Quite simply, not enough has been done to understand the sort of problems they may have been facing and to prevent them inflicting harm and death upon themselves.”