FIVE inmates died of Covid and several staff were hospitalised during a 'major outbreak' at a prison for sex offenders last year, according to a report.

An annual report released by the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) for HMP The Verne on Portland has revealed that during the period between August 1, 2020 and July 31, 2021, a total of nine deaths were recorded in custody, five of which were the result of Covid.

Overall, the board said that it remains satisfied that The Verne is a safe prison where inmates are treated with decency and respect.

In the board's last report for 2019/20 it said the prison was very successful in keeping Covid out in the first period of lockdown. However, in February 2021 there was a 'major outbreak'.

The report said: "Initially prisoners were isolated in the Evershot wing, a block of 24 rooms (cabins) for single occupancy and with individual cell facilities, but as the number of infections increased entire landings were designated as infected areas and had to be used for isolation, the prisoners on these wings forming a ‘bubble’ of 20 men.

The first case of Covid in the prison was diagnosed in February 2021.

The report added: "They were well looked after by healthcare staff and prison officers; many were given oxygen saturation monitors and buzzers. As the outbreak developed, several men required hospital treatment. Sadly, five residents died from Covid related conditions.

"A representative of PHE visited the prison and expressed concerns over the quality of the PPE used by staff (this was later rectified) and, more importantly, the lack of adequate facilities to separate infected and non-infected residents. Only Evershot has rooms in which residents can be individually isolated. In the six wings, other than Dorset [a wing of the prison], twenty prisoners on each of four spurs must share a recess (WCs, washbasins and showers) thereby making effective quarantine impossible."

It has been revealed that of the 80 residents housed in the Dorset wing, which is reserved for the elderly, less mobile population, 68 (85 per cent) tested positive on a PCR test for Covid at some point during the second lockdown.

The board said that a number of prison staff were hospitalised due to Covid and felt that prison staff, like care workers, should have been treated as a priority group for vaccination.

It said: "Staffing levels in the prison became critical as numbers of those infected or self-isolating rose and others were deployed to bed-watch those residents in hospital. Several staff were hospitalised.

"The 45 absent in March represent 21 per cent of the prison’s 213 operational staff who would have been available to work on the wings. Only by very careful re-deployment and with staff volunteering to work what would otherwise be seen as excessively long hours was a viable regime maintained at the height of lockdown.

"While the board commends Governor Bourne and his staff for their dedication during this period, it hopes that, in any future pandemic, their vulnerability will be recognised, and appropriate protection offered."

Since 2018, The Verne has been operating as an adult training prison, operated by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), for people convicted of sexual offenders.