Prisoners have resorted to creating barriers using cardboard and towels to keep rats out of their cells, a damning report has found.

The government says it will be taking “immediate action” to improve the conditions and facilities at HMP Rochester.

In September, the facility became the first category C prison to be issued with an urgent notification for improvement following an inspection which found “a shocking level of neglect”.

The full report of the unannounced visit from the HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ has now been published today (November 12) and outlines a catalogue of concerns, including the dilapidated accommodation, rising violence and self-harm and widespread illicit drug use.

It states most of the communal areas and accommodation were “vermin-infested” with the smell of rat urine “overpowering” and the building “dilapidated” with “some of the worst conditions” inspectors had seen in years.

Staff and prisoners told inspectors that rats and mice regularly enter the cells and many have resorted to creating barriers using cardboard and towels to fill the gaps under doors to keep them out.

The report also said the prison’s safety was “deteriorating” with assaults against prisoners increasing by 67% over the past year and self-harm rising 79% since the last visit in 2021.

The use of illicit drugs was also described as “endemic” and said to pose a “major threat to safety and security”, inexperienced staff struggled to enforce good behaviour and poor supervision led to “chaotic” wings.

Inspectors also said that HMP Rochester was “failing” at its job as a training and resettlement prison with less than a third of prisoners engaging in purposeful activity.

However, they were told the prison group director was aware of the “many problems” and the new interim governor was in the process of revitalising the “moribund institution”.

It also highlighted that the partnership between the prison and health care was “improving” although concerns were raised that clinical practice and poor oversight were leading to “unsafe” care.

Following the publication of the report, the chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, said: “Rochester was fundamentally failing in its rehabilitative purpose as a category C training and resettlement prison.

“Less than a third of the population was engaged in purposeful activity and Ofsted graded the overall effectiveness of education, skills and work as inadequate. Although prisoners were generally unlocked during the day, most had nothing to do.

“The reopening of the adjacent Cookham Wood as a men’s prison, and its merger with Rochester risks distracting from the very pressing problems in the jail.

“Continued support from senior leaders and substantial investment by HM Prison and Probation Service will be necessary if both prisons are to operate effectively, provide decent living conditions and become purposeful, rehabilitative places.”

The government has said it will be undertaking refurbishments to the priority cells, showers and windows, giving staff extra training and reviewing the prison’s security to tackle drug use and address the concerns raised.

It will also be developing a new curriculum to get more prisoners into training and education which will help them find work on release.

Minister for prisons, probation and reducing reoffending, Lord James Timpson, said: “This report is yet another example of the prison crisis we inherited. Violence and illicit drug use are at dangerously high levels and cells are in squalid conditions.

“We are taking immediate action to improve conditions at HMP Rochester, offering additional support for our hard-working staff and addressing the drivers of violence.”

The urgent notification at HMP Rochester was the fourth prison in the last 12 months to receive the worst possible result under the HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ inspection framework.

The process was introduced in 2017 to ensure immediate, urgent action was taken when necessary to address serious concerns.

HMP Rochester, which now includes the former young offender institution, Cookham Wood, is a training and resettlement prison for men.

It was marked for closure a few years ago but remained open to help deal with the recent prison population crisis.