Prisoners say jail life is just pants – after they were ordered to make do with one pair of undies per WEEK.
Cons at an 800-man jail have been ordered by the governor to make a single clean pair last seven days.
Inspectors on a visit to HMP Nottingham uncovered the problem, which they slammed as “very poor”.
A source said: “It may sound like Porridge but it could be a serious hygiene issue.”
Cons at the Category B nick must also make do with one pair of socks and one T-shirt each week, with bed linen in short supply too.
A report by HM Inspector of Prisons found: “The problem prisoners felt most acutely was the lack of clean clothing and sheets.”
Phil Copple, Director General of Prisons, said “more was to be done” at Nottingham but that it had become safer in recent times.
In 2013 lags at Brixton, South London, said boxer shorts were scarce. There was an outcry over a similar problem in the US in 2011.
Meanwhile, an early release scheme to free prisoners and help jails cope with coronavirus has been paused after six inmates were released by mistake.
The low-risk offenders were candidates for early release but were let out too soon after an "administrative error", the Ministry of Justice said.
After the flaw was spotted, they all "returned compliantly to prison", a spokeswoman added.
The Government early release scheme, designed to avoid thousands of often cell-sharing inmates becoming infected, was paused on Thursday and is due to resume next week.
Coronavirus cases have been confirmed in half of the prisons in England and Wales.
Inmates were let out of two open Category D prisons in Gloucestershire and Derbyshire, Leyhill and Sudbury, along with one inmate from the Isis Category C prison and young offenders institute in south-east London.
The Prison Service attributed blame to human error and said processes are being strengthened.
