Almost one in eight prisoners have illegal drugs in their system and another one in five are taking methadone, a jail watchdog has said.
Life behind bars for the 1,260 inmates at Pentonville Prison is "a microcosm of society outside", David Miller, chairman of the Victorian-era jail's independent monitoring board (IMB) said.
– David MillerProblems of mental illness, drug abuse and educational failure are concentrated and made starkly visible.
Prison monitors have criticised overcrowding and a lack of purposeful activity for inmates at HMP Pentonville in north London.
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Scotland Yard said the convicted murderer John Massey who escaped from Pentonville prison on Wednesday has been arrested this afternoon in Faversham in Kent. Massey escaped by climbing over a wall using sheets tied together to make a rope.
Police release a new image of John Massey the convicted murderer who has escaped from HMP Pentonville yesterday evening.
A "potentially dangerous" murderer has gone on the run for the third time after escaping over the walls of Pentonville Prison using a makeshift rope.
John Massey, one of Britain's longest-serving prisoners, made off from the category B jail in Islington, north London, at around 6.30pm yesterday.
The 64-year-old used a makeshift rope to escape over a wall and was not spotted in time by prison officers, sources said.
Police continue to hunt for a murderer after he escaped from Pentonville prison
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Police have launched a man hunt for a convicted murderer who has escaped from jail.
64-year-old John Massey escaped from Pentonville Prison in Islington, North London at around 6:30pm yesterday evening.
Massey was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a man at a pub in east London in 1975.
Scotland Yard said he is considered "potentially dangerous" and should not be approached.
A convicted murderer has escaped from a prison in Islington.
Police say that 64-year-old john Massey made off from HMP Pentonville at around 18:30 today.
They say that he is potentially dangerous and should not be approached by the public.
