HMP Winchester is “not safe enough” according to a report following an inspection last summer that revealed “high levels of violence, self-harm and self-inflicted deaths” at the local category B prison.

While the smaller category C resettlement on the same site was assessed as “reasonably good for safety and respect,” purposeful activity – work, training and education – was considered “poor” on both sites.

In his report, Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, found “significant deterioration” since the previous inspection in 2016. At the category C unit, though purposeful activity and rehabilitation and release planning had both deteriorated, inspectors found some evidence that the decline had been arrested and some tentative improvements made.

However, in the prison itself almost a quarter of prisoners said they felt unsafe and more than half reported feeling victimised.

Use of force by staff had increased since 2016, which the prison attributed in part to inexperience, while special accommodation was used too frequently and the segregation unit remained “a dismal place”.

While the mandatory positive drug testing rate had fallen from 30 to 16 per cent, suggesting that some supply reduction initiatives were having an impact, 59 per cent of prisoners thought it was easy to obtain drugs in the prison.

The lack of improvement in work to reduce self-harm remained a significant concern. Recorded incidents had doubled since 2016, leading to levels higher than any other local prison in the country. Seven prisoners had taken their own lives since the last inspection, three in the previous 12 months. The prison’s response to post investigation recommendations made by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman was “not robust”.

However, most prisoners felt they could turn to staff for help and the comprehensive recording by key workers of prisoners’ behaviour and progress was viewed by inspectors as “good practice”.