Prison reformers called for a young offenders’ institution to be closed down yesterday after inspectors found inmates living in “squalid conditions.”

Inmates at HMYOI Brinsford had been living in dirty cells which contained graffiti and were poorly furnished, HM Inspectorate of Prisons said following an unannounced inspection.

A report added that some did not have window panes, leaving inmates exposed to the elements and there was no toilet screening in a number of shared cells.

Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick said: “These are the worst overall findings my inspectorate has identified in a single prison during my tenure as chief inspector. Across all of our four tests of a healthy prison, we found outcomes to be poor.”

As a result, the Howard League for Penal Reform has called for the institution, adjacent to Featherstone and Oakwood prisons near Wolverhampton, to be closed and for the government to use community sentences instead.

Chief executive Frances Crook said: “The inspection of Brinsford prison reveals an unsafe, ineffective and violent institution that should be immediately closed.

“The government needs to start to reconsider its policy of wasting public funds and young people’s lives behind bars.”

The Prison Officers Association (POA) said Tory budget attacks on the penal system were to blame and had turned “cracks into crevices.”

The POA said it had been warning of a crisis within the system for some time.

General secretary Steve Gillan told the Star: “Underfunding and budget cuts lay the responsibility squarely at Justice Secretary Chris Grayling’s door.

“There has been a rise in institution populations with fewer officers to staff them than ever before.

“Cracks are now turning into major crevices and the only way to address it is proper funding.”