Coats, blankets and instant noodles given to chilly criminals after HMP Wandsworth heating system failed

This was recorded as a “loss of service”, according to a new Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) report, as winter temperatures dropped to as low as 12C.

An additional 1,500 coats, 1,000 blankets, 2,000 instant noodles and soups were rushed for the male inmates, the board said.

HMP Wandsworth’s IMB is made up of volunteers tasked by ministers with scrutinising conditions in custody.

The prison’s heating problems will continue until systems are replaced in their entirety, “rather than patched up in a piecemeal manner”, the report warned.

Prisoners at the category B jail are being housed in “unsafe, overcrowded, unsanitary and squalid conditions,” the IMB concluded.

“The severe physical limitations of the Victorian buildings remain, with inhumane living conditions,” it said.

An inmate freed from the facility under Labour’s much-maligned early release scheme told GB News there was “practically no space” in the prison.

HMP Wandsworth is the second-most overcrowded prison in the country, holding 60 per cent to 80 per cent more people than it is designed for.

Most prisoners share ramped cells originally intended for single occupancy, according to the IMB.

Staffing also remains an urgent issue, with around one third of staff absent or unavailable every day on average, increasing the hours spent locked in cells for inmates.

Almost half the prisoners are foreign nationals, the IMB added.

The prison, first built in 1851, was plagued by two mistaken releases in November last year.

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old Algerian sex offender, was mistakenly freed, and, just days later, 35-year-old Billy Smith was inadvertently released.

Smith handed himself back into the prison after a four-day manhunt, while Kaddour-Cherif was arrested the next day.

The prison’s governor was called in for crisis talks after the series of shocking prison blunders.

IMB chairman Matthew Andrews said: “The commitment of a strong senior management team and a core of dedicated staff was commendable and meant the prison had a relatively good year.

“This was achieved despite the ongoing and chronic staff shortages.

“However, in a remand prison where almost half the prisoners were foreign nationals and also many men had mental health problems, this ensured that significant management challenges remained.”