WOMEN held at a privately run prison are being discharged with nowhere safe to live, while the number of staff employed to help them rehabilitate has been cut.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons made an unannounced visit to HMP Bronzefield, run by Sodexo, near Ashfield in Surrey.

In its report published today, inspectors said that encouraging findings at the prison were “let down by a lack of support and proper preparation for women on release.”

They said: “These struggles were exacerbated by an ongoing staff shortage in the prison.

“Staffing cuts in domestic abuse support and the resettlement team created further weaknesses in release planning.”

Inspectors found that 65 per cent of released prisoners were discharged “without safe and sustainable accommodation.”

One woman even slept in the gatehouse for two nights because she had nowhere else to go, the report said.

Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said: “Without stable, safe accommodation, many women are liable to have mental health relapses, return to substance misuse and become involved in crime on release, creating more victims and, at great cost to the taxpayer, repeating the cycle and undoing the good work of the prison.”

Other failings discovered included a shortage of pharmacy staff causing delays in medication provision and lack of care plans for women with long-term health conditions such as asthma.

Bronzefield opened in 2004 and was Britain’s first purpose-built, privately run women’s prison, taking prisoners from HMP Holloway following its closure in 2016.

It holds almost 500 prisoners and is the largest women’s prison in Europe, with almost three-quarters of its inmates having mental health conditions.

Sodexo was invited to comment.