Life Inside Wandsworth Prison

of Europe's biggest jails. Wandsworth Prison. They have been

given new powers over budgets and the daily regime. This film contains

graphic footage which some of you may find disturbing. SHOUTING. This

is Wandsworth Prison. The BBC has been given unprecedented access

inside a British jail. Over seven days, we saw the violence and fear.

One person they are... The wing looks secure. You become a victim.

The drugs feeding and addiction inside. Heroin, crack, anything you

like. Right now. Is it easy to get Canada's? It is. It is. It is. --

cannabis. The prison officers pushed to the edge. I am the most stressed

I have been in 24 years. And the government demanding change. Without

reform, I don't know how long we can sustain the prison system. SHOUTING.

BANGING. Our prisons are changing. The government is reforming six

jails in England and Wales by handing back control over budgets

and contracts to their governors. Wandsworth Prison is one of them. We

spent six months persuading the Ministry of Justice to allow us

inside. This is what we found. BLEEP. B Wing. Jennifer, a new

recruit, and Steve, a Wandsworth Prison veteran, face the first alarm

of the day. An inmate is refusing to go back to his cell. ALARM GOING

OFF. 20 years ago, this man murdered another in a fight. Gets down! This

is his 38th jail. He told us he was trapped in a cycle of violence. I

have been sliced in the face, so many cuts. Non-stop violence.

Violence? Non-stop violence. Three broken bones in my hands. I said you

are putting me in a predicament where I have no alternative but to

utilise violence for my safety. That is counter-productive to my

progression. A to go home. Psychologically, it is torture.

Mentally, it is difficult. And they are so shortstaffed in here this

place cannot run. It is unsafe. The staff are in fear. This is

Jennifer's first job inside a prison. Four weeks in. Yeah. Are you

shaking? I it. You can feel the rush. I have done so much. The first

time I used my techniques. It all goes up in here. Is this the job for

you? You just have to get used to it. The times inside Wandsworth

Prison felt relentless. And this is an understaffed Victorian jail. And

alarm goes off because there was a fight in the courtyard. At least one

officer has been injured. Are you all right? To understand what

happened, we looked at the CCTV footage. On the left you can see one

inmate attacked and other with a chair leg, breaking his arm. In

seconds the fight spreads We are told this was planned. Two south

London gangs fighting over respect. Every day I wake up... Days later we

tracked down the man who started the fight. A rare opportunity to ask

why. Everyday violence happens. From this postcode and that pose could...

Day follow you in here, the gangs? Everywhere you go you meet a gang

member. And when you walked out in that yard... I walked out there and

I had to fight. I had to fight because if I did not I won't be a

man. So after all of that fighting I came back in and I thought, yes. I

made it. But this is the cost. An inmate hurt and angry. He was

weaving the stick around and wrecked my arm. -- waving. You have to do

what you have to do. There is nothing you can do about it. Three

days it took them to take me to hospital. Three days. You are

vulnerable in here. I have many friends around me so there is no

problem for me. But with another person I could be very vulnerable.

The threat of violence was everywhere. This prisoner had oil in

water and sugar thrown over his face. -- oil in. Another was beaten

up. Just another fight he said. You are a victim. You cannot defend

yourself. How many fights have you had in here? Five, six? Five, six?

Yeah. The most violent inmates are sent here, the segregation units. We

are facing these. These come out when you come through that door.

They are that heavy. That will do some damage. Yeah. All these cells.

Do you see the guy opposite you? There is another one. There are

about 30-40. Only half of them are working. And this is what it takes

just to feed some prisoners. Officers wearing helmets delivering

a sandwich. How dangerous is this job? It is getting dangerous. It is

getting worse. Help me! Every we saw the pressure. ALARMS GOING OFF.

Excuse me, sir. This is because another in an make is refusing to go

back to his cell. Stopped! Stephen has worked here 19 years. It looks

secure. The amounts of incidents have gone up. With 4-5 staff on the

units in wings like that it gets quite tense at times. There needs to

be fundamental change. We release prisoners and they keep coming back.

This was found in his bag. Fuelling the violence is the drugs. This is

Spice, a synthetic cannabis. It has gotten so bad, Wandsworth Prison now

has an x-ray machine to search inmates. There are also sniffer

dogs. Still, the drugs are smuggled inside. So... Prison officer

Danielle showed us the evidence room which is packed with drugs,

evidence, and phones. We have a very, very small mobile phone. It is

tiny. Absolutely tiny. Those are obviously home-made none Jack's.

They could do a bit of damage. We suspect this is Spice. What is Spice

doing the prisons? A lot of damage. People using Spice can potentially

make people extremely violent. And it is getting more and more common

now. Wherever you work there are always Spice stories. In just 12

months, prison staff say 300,000 lbs of drugs have been seized inside

Wandsworth Prison. I sleep here. My cellmate slips here. This is my TV.

Ashley has just started his sentence. He says drugs are

everywhere. I use them at night when I am relaxing and that. Same old.

This is it. This is my home. This is where I live. What drugs can you get

here? Spice, Harrow when, crack. Anything you like. I would just need

to go down to the 2s, 3s, 1s, anything is there, anything you

like. Is it easy to get cannabis? It is. It is. As it made your addiction

worse? I have been here so long now. Nearly a key is. Drugs are the

problem. --8 years. And being inside so long. There are so many people

that use the staff. It is like cannabis. In most days we could

smell cannabis. This is B Wing. Especially up here. And then we see

it. Age-group smoking below us in full view. -- A group. There is no

order now. How do you feel about people smoking it down here? Not

good. There will be fights and that. The officers are just here now. How

do you get cannabis now? From anyone! You can get it right now?

Definitely. Yeah. How does that make you feel? Obviously, it is not good,

isn't it? It defeats everything we are trying to do as a service. And

many inmates told us the same story. Drugs smuggled into Wandsworth

Prison, available for the right price. They charge you say 500 for a

parcel the size of say three tennis balls full of drugs, a phone,

whatever you want. This prisoner asked us not to show his face. He

wanted to talk about the Russian. A smartphone, 700 quid. They go for

retail price. Who brings them in? Officers, other prisoners... Are you

just saying that to get them in trouble? No, of course not. There

are a number of staff quite willing to bring in mobile phones and drugs.

They could potentially put me in danger and other staff. I don't want

to work with them. How many? I don't know, at least one person in every

jail. Inside Wandsworth, inmates and staff talk freely about corruption.

The governor admitted there was a problem and that he had to deal with

it. Corruption is the one thing that I absolutely cannot stand. That is a

clear message from it. One of the first things we need to do and

reform is to think carefully about how to deal with those issues of

corruption and how to tackle those staff who are doing it. That will

deal with those issues you have highlighted and have seen last week.

The corruption, drugs, and violence, are just part of the story. In

Wandsworth Prison, we found a jail facing another crisis. How are you?

How are you? I am no good. This was cut. Twice in Wandsworth Prison this

man came to see us. He had cut every inch of his body. Desperate, he

speaks very little English. Are you getting mental health help? Yeah.

Yeah. I am crazy. I am crazy. No sleeping everyday. No sleeping. I

can't... I can't... I can't... I can't... And so many here are in

crisis. This man jumped over the railings onto the netting. SHOUTING

AND CHEERING AND JEERING. Other inmates wanted us to meet him.

They said he should not be in a jail. Severe mental health, he needs

help. They neglected. -- neglect him. He is severely schizophrenic.

Nuts. What is the matter with you? I'm in jail! Where'd you want to be

right now? Where'd you want to be? What do you want? I have handed in

paper already. Why do they keep telling me... Offices are constantly

assessing prisoners. An inmate has smashed up his cell. He is in

distress. Nathan has self harmed. He says his mental health is getting

worse. This is my artwork. This is Romeo. You can see down there, there

is a bottle of the killer. There is also a very light gun. Rodeo, love

hearts, and if you see here, Juliet. If you look here, that is up. I have

a personality disorder. I am also signed off from the doctor for

severe anxiety, and I only just received my medication yesterday.

Being in prison with your needs, what is a dude you? I suffer. I have

to say let me make a phone call holding a razor blade to my arm, and

eventually the officer opened up the door. -- what does that do to you?

Are you asking for help? Yes, but the system is so slow. Four officers

like Steve, the demand can be overwhelming. Age 5% of people who

come to prison have mental issues, personality disorders,

schizophrenia, bipolar etc. What is the pressure like? If you can't look

after vulnerable people, in a safe environment, people get hurt. Do you

think lives could be saved if there were more members of staff.

Definitely. The amount of self harm and self-inflicted deaths are on the

increase. This inmate talked about taking his life. He had sewn his

lips together and was on hunger struck. He is a failed asylum

seeker. I think about killing myself everyday. 23 hours closed in there.

And dealing with suicide, officers like Andy. He says he cut forget the

faces of prisoners who have taken their lives. It leaves a big

impression. I can see the guys I have dealt with, but eight specific

guys, I can still see their faces. One of those guys was back in 1994.

I had to cut him down. Another guy, around 1996, I can still see him,

the grimace on his face. But how to cope with all of the violence, self

harm, addiction, when your behalf the inmates are foreign and many

can't speak Englishs -- when half. You are remaining? -- were many end.

So many Romanians, like Richard. They said they have served their

time, but are waiting to be deported. Three weeks ago, but they

won't let me go home. Do you want to go back home? Yes, I don't want to

come back here ever. It doesn't matter where you are from. Human

rights are human rights. This is myself. -- my cell. Not everybody

wants to go home. There is worse than this prison. This man is

unhappy with his cell and proud of his crimes. What are you in for?

Pickpocketing. How much will you still in? Up to ?3000 a day. Out of

people 's pockets? I'm proud of it. I will do it again. In the UK? I

might come here. I don't know how, but I will try to come here again.

You make a lot of money here. Why should British taxpayers pay money

to keep you here? I do know. No reason. They will send me back home

anyway, so why'd you want to hold me more? Some foreign prisoners take

English lessons, but the majority don't. And with so many languages

things spoken inside Wandsworth, the jail struggles to cope. 30 or 40

different nationalities, 30 or 40 different bandages, and they provide

a huge challenge because there are lots of argument and debate about

how much we engage those people into work or education and how much

energy we put into people who might be here and to be deported. -- might

not be here. There aren't enough police officers to deal with the

problems facing Wandsworth. Across England and Wales, the number of

prison staff has fallen by more than 30% in the last six years. For new

members of staff, these conditions are all they have ever known. Is it

what you expected? Yes. What you expect prison to be like? Written is

prison. Did you expect this? Yes. I expected daily arguments, daily

fights, and... I pulled out my baton the first time yesterday. I cut down

my first hanging prison at two weeks into the job. You are going to be

faced with a lot of real things. You will be faced with shocks. G1 to do

this job? I came into this job to try to rehabilitate certain

prisoners. Can you do that? I think I can. Wandsworth operates 50

officers short of what is needed. Recruitment is a struggle. It

doesn't take much for the jail to grind to a halt. There has been an

incident and they have shot down -- shut down a wing. They are trying to

get the inmate down. As this is happening, that whole wing, with

hundreds of inmates, has been locked down. It means there are some days

inmates are locked up for 23 hours. With no rehabilitation. For some, it

leads to resentment and frustration. At least an hour a day. We don't get

that. We are just here. We do is get banged up. All we here is like

staff, lack of staff, but that needs to change. This prison has been

Andy's life, but he says the job is harder now than ever before. My wall

for is I will not come home. If she could, she would have me out of the

job! My wife thinks. I want to make a difference and believe my staff

can make a difference. We are struggling and don't have the staff.

Leave it. It's all right. It's all right. Leave it. What is happening

to your mental health? I don't think people care. I reading people care

about what is happening to my mental health. -- I don't think people

care. What is happening to it? I am the most stressed I've been in 24

years in this job. What will happen to you? I will retire and die early

probably. And he desperately needs reform now. And many offices feel

the same. Let down and forgotten. Steve says he feels betrayed --

officers. Do you feel appreciated? We are definitely not appreciated.

You can tell that by the amount of cuts we have received. To have the

strength and turn around and deliver care to be present his bid to your

face and continue that, at the end of the day it is about society as a

whole. If we were treated the West and deserving with care and respect,

it says a lot about society. -- who spit in your face. The BBC was

invited to hear these stories from inmates who one day will be

released, and from a governor who believes without reform, Outer Isles

will break. -- our jails. How big is this moment? It is massive, once in

a generation to change the system and do something which is really

positive. Without reform? We carry on running the system how you have

seen it is in the last week or so. Drugs coming in. Mobile phones.

While it is being perpetrated. Not having enough resources to challenge

some of that behaviour. Without it, we carry on doing the same thing.

The same faces coming through the system. We don't change people. And

that is what we want to do. The prison revolution is promised. But

without enough staff to provide even the basics, how can jails

rehabilitate and end the violence, addiction and self harm? The lives

lost behind bars. Well, for some of us

it was very wet on Friday, for others it was

gloriously warm and sunny. For the weekend, well,

things kind of evening themselves Most of us will stay

dry on the weekend.