Conditions in women’s prison Eastwood Park like ‘a Victorian asylum’, says Chief Inspector of Prisons

Women with acute mental health conditions are being held in “terrible conditions” in a prison with scratched and “blood-splattered” walls, a watchdog has warned.

Eastwood Park – a women’s prison in Gloucestershire – was given the lowest possible safety rating, in a report published today by the Inspectorate of Prisons.

Three women died there last year, and inspectors found rates of self-harm had more than doubled since 2019.

They concluded the prison was “fundamentally unequipped to support the women in its care” – findings the Ministry of Justice described as “deeply concerning”.