A LONDON prison has been denounced as a place of “deaths, drugs and despair” by inspectors who have given the government just 28 days to take action.

Prison officers’ union the POA said HMP Wandsworth was symbolic of the government’s wrecking of the whole prison service through austerity.

The damning report from HM Prisons Inspectorate, which called for the prison to be put into emergency measures, sparked the resignation of Wandsworth governor Katie Price.

It reported finding “ongoing failings in security, severe overcrowding, vermin, drugs, violence and rising self-harm.”

“Tragically, seven prisoners had taken their own lives in the past year,” the inspectorate said.

Prison Officers Association (POA) general secretary Steve Gillan said: “The government has totally ruined the prison service as we know it due to their austerity cuts — and you reap what you sow.

“There has been no capital investment in Wandsworth. It has just been left along with the rest of the prison service.

“This is all down to the government and they ought to own it.

Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said Wandsworth’s environment was characterised by “a degree of despondency that I have not come across in my time as chief inspector.”

He said prison officers at Wandsworth were “burnt out” and the prison was “still reeling” from the “very high-profile” alleged escape of Daniel Khalife in September last year.

Howard League for Penal Reform chief executive Andrea Coomber said: “This jail typifies everything that is wrong with our prison estate.

“Wandsworth currently holds 600 people over its capacity, locked in squalid cells for over 22 hours a day and unable to bathe. This is a disgrace.”

Prison Reform Trust chief executive Pia Sinha said: “This damning report reveals a failure of leadership from top to bottom.

“Ministers cannot be exempt from the criticism levelled against the prison by the chief inspector.”

She said the government was “running out of effective options” to deal with the crisis in the prison service.

Prisons Minister Edward Argar said HMP Wandsworth faced “significant challenges” and said: “In the coming weeks, we will be strengthening the management team with extra experienced staff to provide the leadership, culture change and training needed to turn Wandsworth around.

“In the interim we are deploying more staff, including prison officers, to the prison and will set out further action shortly.”