INSPECTORS have condemned “appalling conditions” at a prison after finding acutely mentally ill women being held in cells with “scratch marks and blood stains on the walls.”

Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said the levels of distress witnessed among women in crisis at one wing in Eastwood Park were appalling, with one experienced inspector describing the conditions as the worst he had ever seen.

The damning report, published today, details the findings of an unannounced inspection of the prison in Gloucestershire in October last year.

Of the 348 women held at the site at the time of the inspection, 83 per cent reported suffering from mental health difficulties and many were described as being “caught in a cycle of homelessness, drug or alcohol misuse and offending.” 

The report says these challenging conditions required high-skilled professionals, however inspectors found that the prison was fundamentally ill-equipped to support women in its care. 

The most damning findings relate to houseblock 4, where women who could not be placed anywhere else in the prison due to their mental health needs were held in segregation. 

Inspectors said the role of the unit was not properly established or overseen. 

Describing the conditions there, the report says: “The cells were appalling, dilapidated and covered in graffiti, one was blood-splattered, and some had extensive scratches on the walls which reflected the degree of trauma previous residents must have experienced. 

“No prisoner should be held in such conditions, let alone women who were acutely unwell and in great distress.”

The report found some “pockets of excellent work” but concluded that the jail was “failing in its most basic duty — to keep the women safe.”

Howard League chief executive Andrea Coomber said this finding “heaps further shame on a  broken system.” 

She added that the report is a “stark reminder of the vast gap between Ministry of Justice rhetoric and the reality suffered by vulnerable women trapped in the prison estate.”

The report comes just three days after the ministry released its Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan for 2022-25, which reasserts the government’s commitment to reduce the number of women in the prison estate. 

The ministry was approached for comment.