WPIC Newsletter October 2025

Reminder of next WPIC meeting, 18 October

If you want to get more involved in the Wandsworth Prison Improvement Campaign come to our next meeting on Saturday 18 October, 10am-1pm in the Wandsworth Quaker Meeting House, 59 Wandsworth High Street, SW18 2PT.

WPIC fundraising event, 12 November

Errol McGlashan, spoken word performer and friend of WPIC, has very kindly offered to do a fundraising event for WPIC. This will be at 7.30pm on 12 November at The County Arms in Wandsworth, next to the prison.

Those who attended our last public meeting will remember Errol's inspiring performance there. On 12 November, he will be performing his one man show Something to Take Off the Edge, which he is taking to a number of prisons around the country.

" His visceral descriptions and grasp of the nuances of prison life touched me" Marie-Claire O'Brien, CEO and Founder of the New Leaf Initiative CIC

“ . . . powerful, energetic and convincing" Anne Stewart, Chaplain at Scottish Prison Service

"There was laughter and tears, but most of all there was hope” Fiona Merrifield, Deputy Governor, Brixton Prison

The performance will be raising funds for WPIC and the Wandsworth Prison Welfare Trust (more on WPWT below). Please come, and bring anyone who wants to be entertained and inspired and find out more about life in prison.

If you plan to come it would be helpful if you could let us know so we have an idea of numbers. 

Fine Cell Work exhibition and talk, 16 October

Fine Cell Work provides needlework skills and paid, high-quality craft opportunities to people in prison. Katy Emck, the founder of Fine Cell Work, will be giving a talk about how Fine Cell Work has transformed the lives of prisoners on Thursday 16 October at St Mary Magdalene Church, 210 Trinity Road, Wandsworth Common, SW17 7HP. There will be an exhibition of work made in Wandsworth from 6-8pm (refreshments provided) and Katy’s talk will be at 7pm. For further details contact info@smmwandsworth.org.uk

Fine Cell work had to close its groups in Wandsworth when the prison became a Remand Prison in 2018. Prisoners at Wandsworth made a quilt in 2010 which is now part of the collection at the V&A and will be part of a special exhibition there in 2026.

Latest IMB report on Wandsworth

The latest report of the Wandsworth Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) was published on 10 October. It covers the year June 2024 to May 2025 and its findings are in line with what WPIC has seen and heard over the past year. You can read the report here. 

The report notes significant reductions in the number of deaths, the number of self-harm incidents and assaults on staff and prisoners. Staffing is the most urgent issue, with on average one third of staff absent every day and 20% of staff with less than a year’s experience. Staff shortages have an impact on prisoners’ time out of cell and access to activities. For example, on most days, no prisoners were brought to the library.

The IMB also found that living conditions are still not good enough. In addition to the lack of time out of cells, broken windows and mouldy showers, the failing infrastructure leads to dangerous conditions including temperatures which are too cold in winter and too hot in summer. The IMB has asked the Minister how much of the £100m set aside for Wandsworth following last year’s Urgent Notification has been spent and on what.

WPIC listens to families and we know how important contact between prisoners and their families can be. As self-harm and suicide statistics show, prisoners are most vulnerable during their first few weeks. While there have been improvements in induction, the IMB report reveals that there are still delays in issuing PINs to make phone calls and new prisoners were not allowed to make a note of key numbers before having their phones taken away, meaning there were dealys before they could contact their families. Would you be able to remember your mother’s phone number?

Deaths in Wandsworth

WPIC continues to attend inquests into deaths in Wandsworth. As well as highlighting the tragic and unnecessary loss of life, inquests give an insight into prison procedures and the systems for caring for the most vulnerable prisoners.

Patryk Gladysz was a young Polish man who fell between the cracks. He died in January 2024. For his last 220 days officers did not write a single entry in his record. He was not rude or violent or sick so became invisible. But he was a schizophrenic who needed his medication, which was forgotten on two occasions. He never saw a psychiatrist. Very little effort was made to use the facilities to communicate with prisoners with limited English. You can read our summary of the inquest into Patryk’s death here. Wandsworth has learnt some lessons from the Ombudsman’s investigation into Patryk’s death, and now reviews prisoner case notes every month and has check-in meetings with the prisoner if there are no notes.

Rajwinder Singh died in hospital in the summer of 2023, five days after being found ligatured in his cell. The inquest exposed repeated failures to identify Rajwinder’s needs and provide adequate support and medication. The failure of prison staff to carry out the required observations may have contributed to his death. You can read our report of the inquest here. The jury concluded that Rajwinder did not intend to take his own life and died by misadventure contributed to by neglect. That is an unusually serious finding. Following his investigation of the case, the Ombudsman said:

“I do not make the following statement lightly, but I consider that had Mr Singh been sent to a different prison in 2023, not in such a state of crisis, he would almost certainly be alive today.” Adrian Usher, Prisons and Probation Ombudsman

New CEO at HMPPS

James McEwen has been appointed as the new CEO of His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). He was previously Chief Operating Officer at the Ministry of Justice. We understand that Mr McEwen will take up his post in the middle of October.

Since Wandsworth’s Urgent Notification last year, other prisons have come under the spotlight so we have written to him urging that Wandsworth continues to be a high priority and that there should be sufficient staff to operate a safe and decent regime. We have also asked him to take a more transparent and open approach.  You can read our letter here.

Wandsworth Prison Welfare Trust Christmas Appeal

The Wandsworth Prison Welfare Trust (WPWT) is the charity set up by WPIC founder Liz Bridge when she was a chaplain in the prison. The charity raises money to improve the lives of prisoners in Wandsworth by providing wind-up radios, games, jigsaws, construction craft materials and books. These help men spend their time productively and peacefully. At Christmas, WPWT has in previous years provided hats and socks for every man in the prison.

This year WPWT is launching a Christmas appeal to provide men leaving Wandsworth Prison with warm clothes. Find out what you can do to help here.

WPIC invited to Cambridge University Institute of Criminology

Members of the Wandsworth Prison Improvement Campaign visited the Cambridge University Institute of Criminology at the invitation of Professor Alison Liebling, Director of the Prisons Research Centre. She told us about her research into suicides in prisons and we talked about the culture in prisons and the cost of inquests. It was clear that many of our concerns about Wandsworth are evident in other prisons. Professor Liebling was enthusiastic about what WPIC does and we hope to work with her and her students in the future.