Self-harm, drug use, rising violence and a rodent infestation are just some of the issues that have led to an urgent call for improvement at one of Kent’s jails.

The Chief Inspector of Prisons has written to the Secretary of State to invoke an urgent notification (UN) for improvement at HMP Rochester after a damning inspection which found “a shocking level of neglect”.

It has become the first category C training prison to be issued with such a notice.

The latest report follows a decade of successively poor and declining inspections of the facility which was warned about concerns in an independent review in 2022.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons said it found conditions inside were “squalid, with decrepit buildings and infestations of rats and mice plaguing older buildings”.

Prisoners were seen using cardboard barriers under door frames to prevent rodents from getting into their cells.

Inspectors also reported rising violence and self-harm, widespread drug use, and “a dearth of activity to prepare men for release”.

Being a category C facility, inmates should be required to take part in education, employment, and resettlement workshops to increase their chances of employment on release, as well as work to reduce prisoners’ risk of reoffending.

However, the report found “Rochester was fundamentally failing in this” with less than a third of those inside engaging with their training. It said: “The offender management unit was ineffective and critically short of trained probation staff to manage high risk prisoners.”

Leaders were not present enough around the jail, and inexperienced staff lacked confidence and were not supported to enforce basic rules and standards.

Wings were chaotic and safety was deteriorating. The rate of prisoner assaults had increased by 67% in the past year and there was more self-harm.

There had been two self-inflicted deaths since the last inspection.

Use of force was also high, with some instances being deemed as “inappropriate” by inspectors.

The report adds: “Drugs were endemic, with 42% of prisoners testing positive in random testing and more than half of men telling inspectors that it was easy to get drugs, including those prescribed to other prisoners.”

Relationships between staff and prisoners were poor, with fewer inmates saying that staff treated them with respect than at other comparable prisons, and inspectors found significant evidence of disrespectful treatment of visitors by staff.

There was also evidence of worrying failing in the healthcare with administration and supply arrangements being reported as poor meaning patients either missed or saw delays in receiving their medicine.

Clinical appointments “were cancelled too frequently, leading to considerable risk for patients”.

These issues are a significant concern to the Care Quality Commission as the regulator of healthcare.

The regional prison group director was aware of the many problems at Rochester and had appointed a new interim governor to try to address them.

However, the new governor had also been tasked with the additional challenge of reopening and managing the neighbouring Cookham Wood site in response to national population pressures, with prisoners starting to be transferred to HMP Cookham Wood during the inspection.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons said this created “a potential distraction from the very pressing issues in Rochester itself”.

Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said: “Rochester has been a prison of concern for many years with consistently poor outcomes which stem from failures in leadership, both locally and nationally and a lack of investment in a crumbling institution.

“This decade of decline, which has accelerated in the past 18 months, shows a shocking level of neglect.

“It is particularly concerning that a category C prison, the workhorse of the prison service, should require an urgent notification for our concerns to be taken seriously.”

Lauren Edwards MP for Rochester and Strood said she was speaking with the new Prisons Minister, Lord Timpson, about providing support to the new governor and staff to make the necessary changes.

“This report from the Chief Inspector of Prisons is a damning indictment of the condition of the prison estate under the last Conservative government,” she said.

“I’m appalled at the significant failings that have been uncovered after what the Chief Inspector refers to as a ‘decade of decline’, with ‘failures in leadership, both locally and nationally’, and a lack of investment in what he describes as a ‘crumbling institution’.

“While the blame clearly lies with the previous government, we must look to the future and how we fix this mess.

The Secretary of State will respond to the urgent notification within the next month, setting out an initial action plan to begin work.

Ms Edwards added: “This must also address the failure to provide work and training opportunities to prisoners.

“It is well known that the key to preventing re-offending in adult male prisoners is providing support to secure stable employment on release.

“The absence of the right type of rehabilitation programmes helps explain why the prison estate is close to capacity now, requiring the regrettable early release of some prisoners.”