Harold Shipman was held at Wakefield prison

Staff at a prison holding Britain's most notorious offenders have been criticised for their "disrespectful" attitude to inmates.

In a report published on Thursday, chief prisons inspector Anne Owers said the style of officers at Wakefield prison was "over-controlled", dubbed "the Wakefield Way".

"We saw one incident where a prisoner on crutches was handcuffed and the handcuffs jerked by the accompanying officer," she said.

"We were concerned that prisoners in the [segregation] unit consistently referred to a climate of bullying and intimidation there. There were even a few allegations of assault.

"Prisoners said they were reluctant to complain formally for a fear of making things worse."

"Some prisoners spoke to us... about the disrespectful and even intimidatory behaviour of some officers, referred to as the Wakefield Way," she added.

Of those questioned, a third claimed to have been victimised by staff, rising to 54 per cent among the over-60s. Some claimed to have been assaulted by officers.

Wakefield's inmates include Roy Whiting, who was convicted for the murder of Sarah Payne, and did include serial killer Harold Shipman, who was found hanged in his cell in January.

Of the 570 prisoners, 70 per cent are serving life, and a further fifth are serving sentences of 10 years or more.

Criticisms

But Owers' report has been criticised by staff at the prison.

Governor John Slater claimed that members of Wakefield's Independent Monitoring Board were not consulted during the inspection.

"We have some very disturbed prisoners in terms of psychopathy and whatever we do, they will try to get back at the system," he insisted.

"We just do not assault prisoners. There's absolutely no substance to it."

"We are dealing with very dangerous prisoners. This is the hard end of the market," he added.

"We have got to maintain control. We have got to look after people humanely but we have also got to make sure that people with vast resources on the outside, such as drug dealers and so on, cannot engineer escape attempts.

"We are well controlled, certainly, and we make no apologies for that."

His comments were echoed by the director general of the Prison Service, Phil Wheatley.

"Wakefield prison holds a concentration of prisoners who have committed the most serious sexual offences or offences of extreme violence," he said.

"Many would, if free, represent a grave risk to the public, not reduced by advancing age. It is challenging to get the balance between care and control right.

"Without firm control, it is difficult to prevent escape or to make prisons safe for staff and prisoners. The chief inspector's criticisms of over-control will be considered carefully but nothing will be allowed to put at risk the high level of control with such a risky population."