A official watchdog said narrow conditions in Victoria prisons in England and Wales limit the chances of recovery for thousands of criminals.

When the guardian conducted a visual investigation into the status of Victorian prisons in inner cities and towns, the prison’s chief inspector Charlie Taylor said 19th-century prisons could also be “incredibly noisy and painful” for autistic people.

His words came after a series of warnings from Attorney General Shabana Mahmood, prison service in England and Wales was in crisis, leading to the early release of thousands of prisoners this fall.

Taylor's annual report in September showed that many prisons were severely and understaffed, with 30 of the 32 closed prisons rated as poor or understaffed.

Many people were flooded with rats and cockroaches and infiltrated by drug gangs.

Taylor previously described Victoria's prison as "almost unsuitable for purpose."

"These prisons are already overcrowded and tend to cover a land area," he said. "If the prison population is twice as large as it once was, it is not ideal to be able to do anything that might be considered a recovery." ”

He said some Victorian-built prisons were able to recover criminals, but “definitely make the work harder.”

"These places are designed to keep prisoners in solitary confinement for a long time. The idea is hard labor, they are not crossed by other sly prisoners, they get a lot of God, a kind of muscular Protestant. That's what we do today when we are doing a prison system that is healing," he said.

Taylor said the older prison was “incredibly noisy” and was a frustrating environment for many inmates who showed symptoms of autism. “Many inmates have autism spectrum disorder, so you know that the incredible rackets you get in those prisons really don’t help any rehabilitation efforts,” he said.

The Guardians analyzed the architectural composition of some of the oldest prisons in England and Wales, measuring the suitability of their designs to address the modern challenges posed by the growing prison population.

The government is trying to build more town prisons. Three four-story home shops were built in HMP Highpoint, Suffolk, between Stradishall and Great Thurlow near Haverhill.

The Justice Department said construction works have begun work on 700 expansions, including workshops and teaching facilities to help prisoners get freed.

A sentencing review conducted by former Conservative Attorney General David Gauke is expected to recommend alternatives to jail, including scrapping shorter sentences and treating more criminals in the community.