Life on the inside
Graham Satchell Prison officers are predicting a summer of discontent. Breakfast's Graham Satchell went to Wormwood Scrubs in West London to find out why

In our day on the inside we found every part of Wormwood Scrubs stretched.

Staff and prisoners alike were frustrated.

Steve, who's serving a nine month sentence for drugs offences, spends 23 hours a day in his cell. He has a toilet and a TV - and nothing else:

Steve: hopes to be released soon with a tag

"Sometimes it takes a lot out of you, " he told me.

"You feel claustrophobic. Its very easy to get frustrated. You've got the toilet, the wall and the telly.

"If the telly ain't working that's it really".

Wormwood Scrubs holds around 1100 inmates - that's its operational capacity. It's been virtually every night for the last 6 months.

Prison officer Andy Shepherd told me:

Andy Shepherd: no leeway

"We're constantly running at operational capacity - we don't have any leeway.

Sometimes we have to lock prisoners out which means they go to other establishments a lot further away which affects them and us."

On their first night in prison, all new inmates are meant to be assessed.

But it's simply not happening.

The night before we filmed, 18 new prisoners had arrived, but staff only had time to assess eight of them. They admit that if one of the other ten had been feeling suicidal, they'd have missed it.

Governor Keith Munns: prisoners move on before they can re-train

Staff in the education unit also feel unable to do their job properly.

Here they're are learning basic law. Because the prison is full many inmates are shipped out to other jails half-way through their course to create space.

Keith Munns, the governor of Wormwood Scrubs told me: "What we're here for is to prevent people re-offending when they go out again.

Prisons fact file

70,858 people were in prison yesterday (May 21) The entire prison system's capacity is around 71,500 Wormwood Scrubs holds around 1100 prisoners

"We can't do that if we're having to move prisoners on to other prisons. The education department and excellent workshops can't do their work because we're having to move prisoners on far too quickly."

Back in his cell, Steve still has about 4 months of his drugs sentence to go. He hopes to be released soon on a tag. Tagging is the government' s big idea to get prison numbers down. But it may not be enough.

Keith Munns says: "If the courts keep sending at the rate they are now we will not be able to cope. We need some relief somehow."

click here to watch Graham Satchell's report in full

Tomorrow, Breakfast will be talking to the Director General of the Prison Service, Martin Neary

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