Walton Prison: A Prison un-fit for rats

In 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022 Walton prison was subject to unannounced investigations each time calling it the worst prison in Britain finding it overcrowded, dirty, dangerous and inhumane.

Only during the 2022 inspection did the population drop below 1100 to 800 by closing one wing to make improvements demanded 7 years prior, a damning observation when we remind ourselves that the whole prison is only designed to hold a population of 750.

Prisoners are treated inhumanely as a process, it’s reported no matter how prisoners arrive be that for permanent stay or transfer they are strip searched and degraded.

Prisoners at risk of self harm or suicide are still not given the attention and support needed; being locked in their cell for 23 hours a day, requests to see doctors and GP’s being purposely delayed and the dispensing of medication and appointments being delayed or cancelled out right.

When asked to produce information about prisoners who posed a risk to the public or themselves on release prison management were unable to share information.

Prisoners are regularly beaten and left to fester in filthy cockroach ridden cells.
Cells that have broken furniture, broken windows and little to no privacy.
It’s common for prisoners to tear up their own bed sheets and clothes to create curtains and separations for some semblance of privacy in these overcrowded living spaces.

And it’s here we see the folly of a prison and rehabilitation system under capitalism, a system that treats and teaches its population that it thinks of them as nothing more than capital, sent to repay a debt and be released with no care for the human life in their responsibility.