UK: the prisons where inmates aren’t allowed a daily shower

Nearly a quarter of inmates at Cardiff’s prison aren’t allowed a daily shower.

Exclusive figures from prison watchdog the Howard League for Penal Reform paint a damning picture of prison conditions.

The new report revealed that just 77% of prisoners in Cardiff’s category B prison in Adamsdown were allowed to shower every day in 2016 - the date of its most recent inspection.

Just 65% of prisoners in Swansea’s category B and C prison were allowed to shower every day in 2017.

That is one of the worst rates of the 119 prisons surveyed.

Belmarsh prison in south-east London had the worst rating of the 199 prisons surveyed, with just 17% of prisoners claiming they were allowed to shower every day.

Just three prisons had a 100% success rating, they were Askham Grange in North Yorkshire, Stanford Hill in Kent, and Warren Hill in Suffolk.

The Howard League analysed the results from prisoner surveys undertaken by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons during each prison’s most recent inspection.

Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform Frances Crook 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.

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