Convicts have done up a jail’s shockingly poor showers in a refurb worthy of TV homes makeover show DIY SOS.
They were asked to roll up their sleeves by the governor after the jail received an exorbitant quote for work.
The work at a prison in Kent is like an episode of the hit BBC series hosted by Nick Knowles and has been applauded by a jail watchdog.
The governor’s initiative at the 27-year-old HMP Elmley, on the Isle of Sheppey, was revealed in a report from the Independent Monitoring Board.
It said essential work had been put on hold and the showers badly needed renovation.
It said: “A team of prisoner tradesmen was assembled, a works programme approved.
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“This initiative has proved to be very successful so far, with the team currently part way through the works programme and hoping that some form of certification will result from their efforts, something that the Board supports wholeheartedly.”
The category B/C jail teaches lags bricklaying. Construction firm Willmott Dixon has an academy there.
There are also regular events attended by up to 25 employers offering vacancies after interviews.
The report added: “The employers are impressed by how well the men had been prepared for their interviews.”
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A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “This innovative DIY scheme saves the taxpayer money on routine repairs and teaches prisoners tangible workplace skills which can help them get a job on release.”
But inspectors said there was no cash available to fix up cells in Elmley, which houses about 1,000 men.
A letter to UK prison newspaper Inside Time from an anonymous 68-year-old inmate highlighted their poor condition.
The con – who has had a triple bypass, two strokes and four heart attacks – complained of being locked up for more than 21 hours a day in a cold, unheated 12ft by 7ft cell with only two blankets to keep warm.
He wrote: “I have used toothpaste in an attempt to block the drafts from the windows and the ill-fitting doors.
“If someone dies it will be due to poor management and neglect, not natural causes. There is nothing natural about the conditions we are currently experiencing.”
