Brixton and Holloway 'worst jails in country'

Two of London's jails were today named and shamed as the worst in the country.

Brixton and Holloway came bottom of the first official league table of jails in England and Wales, and were branded as "failing to provide secure, ordered or decent regimes".

Only one other jail was given the same rating, the notorious Dartmoor. The three were given a level-one rating, the lowest possible in the Prison Service performance system.

Brixton and Holloway received the rating for "significant shortfalls against the majority of key targets" in areas including drugs testing, assaults on staff, escapes, standards of hygiene and levels of purposeful activity.

Scathing inspection reports and the views of Prison Service area managers and independent monitoring boards were also taken into account.

Brixton, with about 800 inmates, was described two years ago as one of six "hell holes" in the prisons system. The most recent inspection, part of which was published last month, said progress was being on previous inspections that found officers running a "jail within a jail" and bullying black inmates.

Its Victorian cells have one of the country's highest inmate turnover rates. In common with other London jails, Brixton struggles with staff shortages - although a recruitment programme is under way - but it also takes in many remand prisoners and new convicts on their way to other jails.

Many prisoners are in high-security categories, tying up staff time and forcing them to spend long spells in cells, sometimes 23 hours a day.

Holloway was at the centre of a damning report which revealed how a ring of lesbian prison officers dubbed the "magnificent seven" terrorised inmates, harassed new staff and defied management. The women's prison houses more than 500 inmates, many with mental illness, drug problems, and past history of abuse.

Improvements are said to have been made since the seven were transferred out last year, but today's report shows prison chiefs may force Holloway to take further action.

None of London's prisons were given the top rating, level four. Pentonville, Feltham, and Latchmere House were given level three. Belmarsh high security prison, where some of Britain's most notorious criminals and alleged terrorists are held, was given the second-lowest rating, level two, as were Wandsworth and Wormwood Scrubs.

Their governors were told the jails were "basically stable" but " experiencing significant problems in meeting targets and or experiencing major operational problems".

Level-one and level-two prisons now face special measures to improve standards, including being handed over to the private sector - although moves to "market test" Brixton have already ended in failure. Bullingdon in Oxfordshire and Eastwood Park women's jail in Gloucestershire have four months to draw up an improvement programme or face possible privatisation.

Correctional Services Commissioner Martin Narey said: "The testing process is designed to drive up performance and demonstrates where the public is getting value for money and where there is room for improvement."

Five prisons were declared "high performing" and given bonuses which governors can use to reward staff or improve facilities. They include Frankland Prison in Durham, and privatelyrun Altcourse, near Liverpool.