When people go to prison, they are sent there as punishment and no one is suggesting it should be like a holiday camp.

But conditions at Lewes prison are so degrading and disgusting, they may even contravene the Human Rights Act.

Another aim of jails is rehabilitation. That is simply not feasible when prisons are inhumane places. Sadly, it is impossible for the several people in the young offenders unit who have committed suicide in the past two years.

Conditions are also dispiriting for staff who have to contend with a grotty building, job cuts and a lack of money for them to do their work effectively.

Home Secretary Jack Straw will now have to decide what should be done with this overcrowded, dire jail.

The best solution would be to pull it down and start again. Many modern prisons are secure and safe and offer their inmates humane conditions and some hope.

An alternative may be a partial rebuilding of the worst and most degrading parts, which are more like Victorian dungeons.

This devastating report gives little hope a reasonable regime could ever be run within the current prison walls.