No toilets in 6,900 prison cells in England and Wales, minister reveals

Prisoners in 1,485 cells in 21 prisons have to request access to facilities by ringing a bell and some use buckets

Almost 7,000 prison cells in 50 jails in England and Wales do not have toilets, with many prisoners given buckets in case they cannotbe unlocked in time.

At HMP Isle of Wight, almost half of the 1,000-plus prisoners do not have in-cell sanitation and inspectors have derided the “disrespectful” practice of giving out plastic buckets to inmates, who had no means of washing their hands afterwards.

Last month, the Guardian revealed that the unhygienic practice of “slopping out” was still happening in some jails despite supposedly having been outlawed in 1996.

At the time, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it was unable to say how many cells did not have toilets.

Edward Agar, promoted to prisons minister in Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle last week, provided the information in answer to a parliamentary question tabled by his Labour shadow, Ruth Cadbury. He said 6,907 cells in 50 prisons in England and Wales did not have toilets.

Of those, 5,422 were in low-security prisons, where inmates have open access to shared facilities on the wing. This “communal access” can be found in 29 prisons (11 open prisons, 11 training prisons, five women’s prisons and two reception prisons).

Meanwhile, prisoners in 1,485 cells in 21 higher-security prisons have to request access to a toilet by ringing a bell to access an electronic unlocking system. This allows the cell door to be opened remotely for a limited period of time to allow use of shared facilities on the wing.

HMP Isle of Wight, which opened in April 2009 and holds 1,076 prisoners, exclusively sex offenders, has the most cells with no toilets or sinks: 476. These are located on the Albany block, which was constructed in the 1960s and occupies the site of a former military barracks.

Inspectors found last year that although the electronically managed night sanitation system in the prison “worked reliably overall”, staff “also allowed the use of plastic buckets, which was disrespectful”.

HMP Coldingley, which has 510 prisoners, has 360 cells with no toilets. An inspection last year found some prisoners “sometimes waited for hours before being unlocked to use communal facilities”. Some used buckets in cells described as “cramped, dingy and cold”.

Long Lartin, a high-security prison holding some of the highest-risk and most serious offenders in the country, has 307 cells with no toilets. Inspectors found “almost half the population still had a bucket instead of a toilet and no running water to wash their hands in their cell. This indignity was compounded by the amount of time prisoners now spent locked up.”

Agar told Cadbury: “All prisoners in normal accommodation have 24-hour access to sanitation. This is achieved in a number of ways across the prison estate. The most common method of providing access to toilet and washing facilities are in-cell. However, in some prisons it has proved impossible or impractical to fit in-cell sanitation in some cells.”

As of last Friday, 87,744 people were being held in prison in England and Wales – 8,700 more prisoners than the system has space to hold in “good, decent” conditions, by the MoJ’s own definition.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “All prisoners have access to proper sanitation facilities and the overwhelming majority have access to in-cell toilets. We’re also improving conditions across the estate – refurbishing cells while delivering six new, modern prisons including HMP Fosse Way, which opened in May.”