The country’s worst prison

Cockroaches, rats, pools of urine and blocked toilets. The “squalor” at Liverpool Prison is bad enough, but Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons has branded it the worst in the country.

There have been six suicides at Liverpool Prison since 2015. Violence among inmates and against prison officers is rife.

In the six months leading up to the inspection in September, staff found 32 drones that had been used to fly drugs and other illicit items into the prison.