Blakenhurst Prison in Worcestershire is "squalid" and "rife with bullying" according to an official report released on Wednesday.

The Chief Inspector of Prisons found cells were dirty on some wings in the jail, with some of the living conditions for prisoners described as "entirely unacceptable".

The report criticises a lack of plans for a programme to challenge the behaviour of bullies and offer support for victims.

It also suggests the prison, near Redditch, needs to pay more attention to the needs of foreign nationals.

Bullying problem

Blakenhurst's governor Martin Lomas does not accept the prison is dirty, but does concede there is a problem with bullying:

"To say that we will wave a magic wand managerially and cure this issue is naive.

"We have put in place a series of measures to try and help sustain our efforts to confront this scourge.

Martin Lomas: Tackling bullying

"By and large we are successful, although clearly there are instances of bullying... there are 880 prisoners here."

Some examples of good practice were also highlighted in the report.

Blakenhurst's provision of education for inmates is praised, with 200 prisoners able to attend classes each day.

The jail's positive approach to race relations is also highlighted.

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers, said: "In general we were impressed with the number of recommendations that had been completed in the 16 months since our last visit.

Decency agenda

"We found that staff and managers at Blakenhurst were working hard to make the prison a safer place and were committed to the Prison Service's decency agenda.

"Our primary concern was that many of the staff did not appear to exert a controlling presence on the wings.

"When prisoners were unlocked, they moved freely on their landings but, at times, staff were not as observant or challenging of behaviour as we would expect.

"Staff needed to be more ready to challenge inappropriate prisoner behaviour."

Last year responsibility for running the jail was handed back to the Prison Service from the private sector.