The chief inspector of prisons Peter Clarke has invoked the urgent notification process in respect of HMP Birmingham after an inspection ending earlier this month found a “dramatic deterioration” in conditions since the last inspection 18 months ago.

Here are just a few of the shocking findings:

• During the inspection, nine vehicles — including two being used by the inspection team — were “destroyed” by prisoners in an arson attack, despite being parked in a supposedly secure car park
   
• Drug use was so prevalent at HMP Birmingham, Mr Clarke said he “felt physically affected by the drugs in the atmosphere” — and staff simply shrugged when drug use was raised with them
   
• The prison’s strategy for confronting violence was “completely ineffective,” leaving violent prisoners to act with “near impunity” and others “isolating themselves in their cells, refusing to emerge because of their fear of violence”
   
• One “obviously distressed” prisoner was found “sitting on some scruffy material on the springs of his bed” three days after his mattress was stolen
   
• Another “clearly troubled man who was struggling to maintain personal hygiene” had been “hosed down” by other prisoners with a fire hose at least twice. Mr Clarke said: “We struggle to understand how staff could have allowed this appalling bullying to take place”
   
• Care for prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm was “poor,” despite three prisoners having taken their own lives in the last 18 months
   
• Conditions at the jail were “as poor as we have seen anywhere in recent years,” with cockroaches and rats, and staff became “inured to the decay in standards”