A ‘SQUALID’ wing at a Portland prison is ‘unfit for use’ and ‘should promptly be demolished,’ inspectors warned today.

Previous reports on the Portland Young Offenders Institution found prisoners were forced to wait so long to use the toilet on one wing that they resorted to throwing human waste out the windows.

Now the HM Inspectorate of Prisons has declared the Rodney wing is ‘breaching acceptable standards of health’ and should be closed.

Chief Inspectorate Anne Owers said in the authority’s latest inspection report: “Most units and particularly the newer ones were in good condition.

“However there remained one unit – Rodney – with no integral sanitation, where conditions can only be described as squalid: breaching acceptable standards of health and safety and in general unkempt and uncared for.

“This unit urgently needs to close as its sister unit has done.”

Hardy wing was closed earlier this year for the same reasons.

Rodney wing is used to hold prisoners who have just arrived before they are allocated a cell elsewhere.

Up to 72 prisoners can be held on the unit and it is generally up to full capacity.

Each prisoner is allowed four visits per night but with a limited number of toilets available, prisoners could be forced to wait an hour. Grills have now been fixed to the windows to prevent human waste being thrown out of the windows but inspectors still found waste toilet tissue on window ledges.

Water from the toilets had leaked into a staff office which was still being used for interviews despite a hole in the roof.

Walls were stained and in one occupied cell one pain of glass was missing with shards of broken glass in another – both having been “inadequately plugged with cardboard”.

Inspectors also found a significant amount of violence but figures were comparable with other prisons The report read: “In the previous six months there had been, on average, 11 fights, five prisoner-on-prisoner assaults, and two assaults on staff each month.”

Prisoner officers were praised and managers were said to be “determined to create a space in which young men could have new and different opportunities.”

YOI deputy governor David Bourne said ‘further developments’ on closing the Rodney wing are expected early next year.

He added: “We welcome this being highlighted in this report which will hopefully support our case for replacement units.

“Overall this was a very positive report for a young offender institution.

“Anne Owers commented when giving feedback to senior managers in July that she would like to bottle-up some of the good work taking place and take it to other prisons around the country.”

There are currently 550 inmates aged between 18 to 21 at the YOI.