Women prisoners are still being forced to "slop out", a practice that officially no longer exists in prisons in England and Wales, according to a report published today.

The report on Bulwood Hall in Essex expresses concerns about the sanitation. Cells in Bulwood Hall have no internal toilets. This means that at night women are automatically unlocked if they wish to use the toilet. Security procedures dictate that they are unlocked one at a time. In practice long delays are inevitable and some inmates, including juveniles and pregnant women, are reduced to using "potties".