Only 45 prisoners have moved into a new £150 million jail in the West Midlands which was designed to hold 1,600 convicts after a series of breakdowns.
Showers that turn on in the middle of the night, electrics that short out when lights are turned off and a £7 million super-kitchen that has yet to produce any food are some of the teething troubles which have hit HMP Oakwood.
It is understood that, a month after it opened, the showpiece jail, designed to house convicts from Birmingham and the Black Country and operated by private firm G4S, contains only 45 prisoners because of the series of problems.
According to staff sources at the jail near Wolverhampton, every time lights are switched on in cell blocks the prison’s power system trips out.
Showers come on automatically even though no one is housed in the cells, spewing scalding water across the floors of the self-contained accommodation units without warning.
Because of water and power failures, the £7 million kitchens have remained unused so food for prisoners is brought in from outside contractors.
A source said the problems were being blamed on contractors employed by the Ministry of Justice.
Mark Leech, editor of prisoners’ newspaper Converse, said: "Sources at the prison have said that the electrics are in a real mess.
"Every time they switch on the lights the system trips off. Showers in each cell keep coming on automatically even though no one is locked in them and, as a result of the water and power failures, food for the prison is being brought in from a private contractor instead of being cooked in the £7 million state-of-the-art kitchen. Staff at the jail have said it’s a shambles."
Mr Leech said prisoners from the West Midlands expecting to be transferred to HMP Oakwood have instead been housed as far away as Durham as private operator G4S struggles to overcome the problems.
He said: "We are getting many letters from prisoners at Ryehill Prison near Rugby, which, like HMP Oakwood, is operated by G4S.
"They have been told they were going to be transferred to Oakwood, but have now been informed the move is off.
"They have been shunted to other prisons around the region because of systems failures at the new jail.
"G4S have been operating prisons since 1992 so they cannot claim that this is something new for the company. They have had 20 years to get it right," he added. "There are 200-plus staff looking after just 45 inmates. It’s absolutely ridiculous and is definitely not a good start for the new prison which only received its first prisoners four weeks ago."
The prison was scheduled to cater for inmates from the West Midlands nearing the end of their sentences. Although G4S is contracted to handle 1,600 prisoners at the jail, there is space for more than 2,000 convicts at the sprawling new complex that is run by director Steve Holland.
Residents near the jail at Featherstone, on the edge of the Black Country, were outraged when it was revealed by the Birmingham Mail that convicted sex offenders would be allowed out of the jail into the local community on day release schemes.
A spokeswoman for G4S said: "As with any new build of this scale there have been snagging issues.
"We have contingencies in place to deal these issues and we continue to steadily fill the prison. The issues have all been rectified and we remain on track to be at full capacity in the autumn."
