Prisoners let out ‘in error’ or held illegally beyond their release date in ‘squalid’ prison, watchdog warns
The criminals were mistakenly released early or kept illegally illegally in a chaotic and smaller prison beyond the dates of release in “terrible conditions”.
Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of the prisons, issued an urgent notification to the government about the state of HMP Pentonville.
The overcrowded Victoria prison in North London, where most prisoners share cells designed for a person, are invaded with mice and cockroaches.
The inspectors discovered that 10 prisoners in category were published early between July 2024 and June 2025, because the staff could not calculate the sentences correctly ”. The prison has extensive criminals, including some who have been imprisoned for violent crimes.
20 percent of those suitable for release – was illegal after the release date in the last six months.
In a letter to the Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, the Chief Inspector said that the arrangements for the first night of the new prisoners in the North London prison were “chaotic and even scary”.
Men, bedding, furniture, telephone and pillow is missing in the dirty cells, he said, the majority of prisoners are locked in their cells more than 22 hours a day, he said.
After finding the supervision of prisoners who were at risk of suicide and self -harm, they took an emergency action, as a “shocking poor” was asleep when a prison officer had to follow the risk prisoners.
Despite the three self -deaths in 2025 in 2025, the other was found as “completely absent”.
Bay Taylor said: “Pentonville is an extremely crowded, urban, Victorian prison with bad performance recording for many years.
“The staff was disappointed in the capacity to affect the possibility or change of change too much. But most of their shocking failures are in control of the leaders.”
A study of the prisoners showed that 44 percent of Taylor felt unsafe during the examination, which was the highest figure recorded during his term of office.
Pentonville, Exeter, Cookham Wood Young Criminal Institute, Woodhill, Bedford, Wandsworth, Rochester, Manchester and Winchester prisons will be published in an emergency prison since November 2022.
Howard Criminal Reform League described findings as “new low için for the prison system.
Campaign Director Andrew Neilson said: “The details of this examination represent a new low level for a terrible and ugly and extremely crowded and insufficient public service standing on the brink of collapse.
“While the government inherited a terrible situation in prisons, it lasted more than a year to provide change. Report cards are increasingly such a terrible dysfunction in Pentonville, rare little confidence that ministers have a grip of the situation.”
Pia Sinha, one of the confidence in prison reform, said that the damn report should serve as a scream of action.
“After the need to be released, prisoners or errors kept illegally weaken their release, effective sentence planning and erodes the trust of the people,” he added.
“This emergency notification should be a scream of gathering for action immediately – correct the unsuccessful infrastructure, improve personnel training and treat prisoners with dignity.”
“This is a deep report, and reflects the crisis that holds too many prisons for a long time.
“Yesterday, I visited HMP Pentonville and came together with the staff. The team is already trying to urgently deal with the concerns of the Chief Inspector. We will publish an action plan to support them in these efforts in the coming weeks.
“This government will end the chaos we have inherited in our prisons. We are building 14,000 new prison places and reform the punishment, so that our prisons reduce the reorganization, reduce the crime and keep the victims safe.”
