A CRISIS-hit prison has been described as “squalid, demeaning and depressing” in a damning report by an inspector.

Some facilities at HMP Hewell in Worcestershire, which is in special measures, were described as the ‘the worst he had seen’ during an unannounced inspection by Peter Clarke of HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP).

Mr Clarke said it was a “very worrying inspection.”

The inspection in June follows a previous visit to the prison near Redditch in 2016 which revealed “far too high levels of violence.”

Half of the scores awarded across the two sites were ‘poor’ - the lowest level the inspector could give.

Almost 70 per cent of prisoners said it was easy to obtain drugs and almost a quarter said they had developed a drug habit whilst in prison.

Self-harm had doubled since the last inspection, the adjudication system was failing, and there were no effective incentives for prisoners to behave well, the report said.

HMP Hewell has two prison sites; a male category B prison holding 870 prisoners, and an open prison of about 200 prisoners.

At the closed facility, living conditions were also deemed “unnecessarily poor” and the “standard of cleaning was inadequate.”

“In one room I saw a plaster wall that was so damp that where a prisoner had struck it with his fist, deep indentations had been left,” the inspector said.

Mr Clarke said the “very steep decline” of the prison since the last inspection and because the closed site was graded ‘poor’ for safety for a third time, it could have been “very easy” to justify ordering an urgent notification for the prison.

The notification would have forced the government to draw up an improvement plan within 28 days.

Phil Copple, of HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), said concerns over living conditions would be addressed, while a new drug strategy, extra sniffer-dog patrols and increased searches would make the closed prison safer.