AN MP has demanded an immediate action plan be drawn up for Holme House jail after an independent report provided further evidence of serious failings.

Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham, who visited the prison last year after a series of concerns were raised, said its conclusions were damning and also expressed concerns that young offenders were being held at the adult institution.

It comes after The Northern Echo previously revealed how

:: Tees Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust put a block on its staff attending the jail due to difficulties being posed by the prevalence of the psychoactive drug 'Spice'

:: More than five kilos of the drug, which is smoked and causes hallucinations, was smuggled into the jail in cereal packets

:: A prison officers' wife stated the prison was a "powder keg about to explode".

The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), which has a statutory role and reports annually to the Secretary of State, said staffing levels had been a cause for concern throughout 2017, while ready access to illicit drugs among prisoners had contributed to high levels of uniformed staff sickness.

Incidents involving psychoactive substances had risen and their primary and secondary effects had affected prison safety with increased levels of violence on both staff and involving prisoner-on prisoner assaults.

It said last year there were 293 violent and 916 anti-social behaviour incidents - a 48 per cent increase on 2016.

There were five deaths in custody last year, four due to natural causes, two more than in 2016.

The report said there had been 376 recorded incidents where psychoactive substances, which include so-called ‘legal highs’, had involved violent behaviour towards officers and other prisoners and 189 alone in June and July.

It said: “Officers have struggled at times to cope with the scale and frequency of such incidents.”

However since October there had been a marked reduction in the use of this category of drugs due to intelligence focused searches.

The IMB said the size and conditions of many cells were unacceptable and there were shortages of basic items such as kettles.

It said original parts of the prison needed urgent refurbishment, particularly on the house blocks - a criticism made in an inspectors report last July.

Remarkably there was only one “handy person” for the entire prison which was not sufficient for the level of repairs needed.

It queried whether extra funding could be provided by ministers to “enhance the decency” of the environment and asked prison chiefs why it was that some young offenders were being held at Holme House when there was a young offender institution nearby at Deerbolt.

The report revealed that a temporary regime was put in place last year, meaning progress with prisoners being in full time education or training had been disrupted.

A shortage of prisoner officers meant some prisoners were being locked up for up to 23 hours a day.

Holme House, which has more than 1,200 prisoners, is being re-categorised as a drug recovery prison and stopped receiving remand prisoners from local courts in May.

Some improvements were praised. There had been a considerable reduction in in-patient beds being occupied by prisoners with mental health issues.

The visits hall, visitors’ centre and the healthcare exercise yard had also been refurbished and improved.

Mr Cunningham said: “This report is damning on so many fronts and it is clear that despite the best efforts of the governor and his team, things don’t appear to have improved.

“I visited the prison last year to discuss the problems with drugs and lack of staff in particular and was assured that a new regime was paying off and staffing levels had increased. Sadly this report concludes otherwise.

“The failure of the Government to tackle the problems at Holme House which have seen little - if any - improvement in recent years is deeply disappointing and I will be writing to the Justice Secretary to demand a comprehensive inspection and an action plan to deal with the drugs problem; recruit, retain and support the necessary staff; create a proper regime to educate, support and rehabilitate prisoners; and hold contractors responsible for repairs to account for failing to carry out their contract effectively.”

A spokesman for the Prison Service said official figures being published next month would show a decrease in drug use. It said the jail continued to recruit new staff, while new body scanners, extra sniffer dogs and a dedicated drugs search team had been introduced.

The service acknowledged that Holme House had faced a “challenging period”, but sickness rates among staff had been addressed.

Since the period covered by the report a full regime had been restored, offering greater employment opportunities, improved support to drug users and further time for association for prisoners.

The spokesman said the IMB had recognised excellent examples of care for vulnerable and violent individuals at Holme House.