A COVID-19 outbreak at HMP The Verne killed five inmates and left several members of staff hospitalised in 2021 a report has revealed.

An annual report released by the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) for HMP The Verne on Portland revealed five deaths were a result of COVID-19 between August 2020 and July 2021.

A number of prison staff were also hospitalised due to COVID-19.

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.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.

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.

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 offences.