Delivering decency: that is to be the theme of the prison service conference next week. But decency does not seem to figure much in the treatment of prisoners at Dartmoor.

The new chief inspector of prisons, Anne Owers, has used her first report to protest against the underlying culture at Dartmoor, where officers routinely use abusive language to their charges and treat them with complete disrespect.

In addition, she found the systems of control outdated and excessive:

"Dartmoor," she said, "is imprisoned in its own past, with an image of hard men dealing with hard criminals."

Inside Dartmoor Prison

In fact, the prison has been reclassified from category B to category C, catering for lower-risk offenders. From his initial responses, it is clear that the director-general of the prison service, Martin Narey, knows exactly what she is talking about.

Last year, the governor was moved, but only after a visit from Mr Narey. It seems to be no easier than it ever was to get the service to reform itself: action only comes after direct outside intervention.

A former prison inmate, Mark Leach, said Dartmoor is an ancient dinosaur, while the former chief Inspector of prisons, Sir David Ramsbotham, told the programme he was disappointed that nothing seemed to have changed since he was in charge.

The head of the local Prison Officers' Association, also had conflicting views about the state of the prison service.

And Prisons Minister Beverley Hughes said that the process of change had begun.

To hear the above interviews click on the audio link above