I’ve been warning about HMP Wandsworth for years - now we need action, writes Rosena Allin-Khan MP

Most of the time, people don't realise HMP Wandsworth is there, tucked away by a railway line among suburban streets.

Now and again, however, the little corner of south London between Magdalen and Heathfield Roads becomes a focal point for national attention - usually, for the wrong reasons.

This Wednesday was one such occasion - when I was informed in the morning that Mr Brahim Kaddour Cherif, a convicted sex offender held on a charge of trespass with intent to steal, had been released by mistake a week before.

That afternoon, it was revealed that another inmate - William Smith - had also been wrongly let out from Wandsworth, although now both men have been returned to custody.

These are sadly not isolated incidents. Last month, there was widespread reporting on drones bringing contraband directly to prisoners' windows in the middle of the night, including items such as mobile phones, drugs, and weapons.

I have spoken to the Prison Officers Association about this problem many times - they say that, by the time they identify which cell a drone has dropped to after unlock in the morning, these illicit items have already been transferred multiple times and are essentially untraceable.

Also within recent memory is the escape of Daniel Khalife in September 2023. Working in the prison kitchens, Mr Khalife hid underneath a supply lorry on its way out and remained at large for three days. Other incidents, such as the sex tape of an inmate and a guard, compound the idea that Wandsworth is a prison in crisis.

This is not to say this is the fault of staff, who work incredibly hard in the most challenging of conditions, but rather these issues speak to endemic issues within our prison system.

Years of underfunding and underinvestment by the last Conservative Government have resulted in crumbling prisons, overstretched staff and, as we have seen, repeated high-profile incidents. On the day of Khalife's escape in 2023, the prison was operating at just 60% of its intended staffing level.

As I said in my letter to the Home and Justice Secretaries on Wednesday, this catalogue of errors raises serious questions about the staffing and operational capabilities of Wandsworth Prison. Our prisons must be absolutely watertight to ensure that justice is served.

Crucially, Wandsworth is in a densely populated, residential area of London and residents have a right to feel safe, without fear of the escape or wrongful release of dangerous inmates.

I've been raising these issues for years, as have my colleagues in Parliament, about their local prisons, and this latest security breach must be the final straw.

We need a root-and-branch review of how Wandsworth Prison operates, as well as the wider prison estate, and we must restore confidence in the system.

We cannot allow these situations to become normalised, but without urgent action, we will see incidents like these happen again and again.

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Dr Rosena Allin-Khan is the Labour MP for Tooting.

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