Cells in some English jails still do not have toilets, leaving prisoners to defecate in buckets overnight and sleep in “inhumane” conditions, the Guardian has learned.
The practice – known as “slopping out” – was supposed to be outlawed from 1996. But at least five prisons still have cells without sanitation, posing particular problems for elderly or disabled prisoners.
In HMP Bristol, the chief inspector of prisons recently spoke to inmates who said they had to resort to using buckets and throwing the waste out of the window, which then splashed into the cells below. The smell of urine on the landing was “overpowering”, Charlie Taylor reported this week.
Though prisons without cell toilets are supposed to operate “night sanitation” systems, allowing prisoners to be unlocked if necessary, many do not function properly.
Prisoners who need to use the toilet join an electronic queue to be unlocked – usually for eight minutes – and many report long waits.
At Grendon, a so-called “therapeutic” jail in Buckinghamshire, most prisoners do not have in-cell sanitation and so rely on an electronic keypad system when locked up.
“For some prisoners, this was not a problem, but many others told us of delays to use the toilet, particularly in the morning and on landings which housed larger numbers of prisoners. Although prisoners had been provided with plastic pots to use in their cell for this purpose, this was not decent and they were unable to wash their hands,” inspectors reported.
Long Lartin, a high-security jail in Worcestershire for about 600 men, also issues buckets to prisoners without in-cell sanitation to limit the number of inmates having to be unlocked. About half of all cells there do not have toilets.
Sue Harrop, the chair of the independent monitoring board (IMB) at Long Lartin, said: “The cells on the four wings that lack running water and sanitation accommodate some elderly and infirm prisoners. The use of buckets is problematic when the men are locked up for extended periods due to regime restrictions. There is not even a sink to wash their hands after using their bucket. They are required to ‘slop out’ into an open sluice with no splash-guard or privacy for men emptying their pots. The board view this practice as inhumane.”
There are also no toilets in the original 1960s residential block at HMP Coldingley, a medium-security men’s prison in Surrey.
Coldingley IMB’s annual report, published in October 2023, said: “The much-needed refurbishment of the original old residential units is under way, but some of the existing call-bell sanitation facilities will remain in use for years and … appalling and inhumane conditions have recently been witnessed.”
The age-old practice of “slopping out” – referred to at the time by penal reform groups as the “single most degrading element of imprisonment this century” – was officially brought to an end on 12 April 1996, according to the National Council for Independent Monitoring Boards. On that day, the last plastic pot was ceremoniously discarded at HMP Armley in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
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Andrew Neilson, the director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “In our overburdened and under-resourced prison system – where it is common to see dirt, vermin, broken furniture, faulty equipment and the poor hygiene that comes with people being forced to share cramped, poorly ventilated cells designed for one – slopping out is one of the grimmest practices that you will find.
“It should have stopped many years ago, but chronic overcrowding means that old prisons that ought to have been closed remain open, and thousands of people are made to endure awful conditions that will never help them to live healthily and move on from crime.”
The Ministry of Justice said it was not able to find out how many prisons in England and Wales had cells without toilets.
Instead, 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.”
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