Strangeways prisoner Lee Gorst, 35, took his own life after being locked in his cell for all-but an hour, with a damning report exposing squalid conditions and rampant violence
A report has lifted the lid on problems at Strangeways prison in Manchester(Image: Manchester Evening News)
An inmate at Strangeways prison took his own life after telling his loved-ones he only allowed out of his cell for 90 minutes every day, a newly-published report has revealed.
Lee Gorst was found hanged in his cell at HMP Manchester on April 25, 2023. The 35-year-old was sentenced to 13 years and four months for attempted murder and false imprisonment in 2013. He was released on licence in January, 2020, but recalled to prison in June, 2021 having been charged with robbery, unlawful wounding and making threats to kill.
Now, a report into his death has been released by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. It reveals he called Strangeways ‘a dump’ and claimed knives ‘were coming in by drones every night’. Gorst also claimed prison officers often forgot to let him out of his cell for food, and was said to be ‘shocked’ by the level of violence in the prison.
A coroner recorded a verdict of suicide after an inquest. The PPO report said the prison was operating a ‘restricted regime’ at the time due to staffing and Gorst spent ‘extended periods of time in his cell on his own’ as a result. He wrote in a letter found after he died that he was ‘locked in his cell alone for twenty two-and-a-half hours a day, with every minute of his life controlled’.
Lee Gorst was discovered hanged in his cell at HMP Manchester back in 2023(Image: Men Media)
PPO investigators were told prisoners were let out of their cells for approximately two hours a day at the time. In October 2024, following an inspection, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, issued an urgent notification to the Secretary of State for Justice in relation to a ‘concerning decline’ at the prison.
The prison was called ‘squalid’ and ‘the most violent in the UK’. Inspectors said organised crime gangs and the supply of drugs into the crumbling Victorian jail were ‘clearly undermining every aspect of prison life’. Strangeways, said Mr Taylor, was ‘fundamentally not safe’ for prisoners and staff working there. The prison was subsequently issued with an ‘Urgent Notification’.
“A number of the concerns HM Inspectorate of Prisons identified are relevant to the matters Mr Gorst raised during his telephone conversations,” said the PPO report into his death, which was published last week. In September, 2021, he was given a custodial sentence of four-and-a-half years then in February, 2023, he was given a life sentence, with a minimum term of five years, for a knifepoint raid on a store in Clayton, north Manchester. He was sent to HMP Manchester in March of that year and denied ‘thoughts of suicide or self-harm’ on arrival, said the report.
“During his telephone conversations with his partner, Mr Gorst revealed that he was struggling to come to terms with the length of his sentence and he was unhappy with the regime and environment at Manchester,” it added. The ombudsman, Adrian Usher, said he was ‘concerned’ that when Gorst arrived at Strangeways, he wasn’t given a proper induction and didn’t receive any key work.
It resulted in Gorst spending ‘extended periods of time in his cell on his own’, said the report. “It is clear that this had a negative impact on him,” Mr Usher wrote.
His body was found after an officer arrived at his cell to unlock him for ‘afternoon association’. “The prison was operating a limited regime, which meant that prisoners were spending significant amounts of time in their cells, and there were very few opportunities for prisoners to engage in purposeful activities,” said the report.
“There was a delay in paramedics attending the emergency. It took prison staff 14 minutes to conduct security checks and to escort the paramedics through the prison.” Gorst was the 16th prisoner to die at HMP Manchester since April 2020.
The report reveals that days before his death, he called his partner and expressed his concerns. “He told her that he was very depressed, he did not want to be in prison, Manchester was a dump and he hated it,” said the report.
He also complained to her that officers had forgotten to let him out of his cell for food, which he said happened regularly. Five days before his death, he called his partner again, telling her that ‘there were lots of knives in the prison which were coming in by drones every night’. “Mr Gorst said that he hated the prison, and everything was getting on top of him,” reveals the report.
“He said he had watched a television programme called ‘Parole’ (a BBC documentary series focusing on the work of the Parole Board), and he thought it was going to be very hard for him to get released at the first opportunity. He said that he was only getting an hour and half out of the cell each day and he spent the rest of the time lying on his bed.”
It has been revealed that Gorst had written ‘my last day’ in April 22 on his calendar – three days before his death – and had also written a letter to his family on that day, which he referred to as his suicide letter. The report said: “Mr Gorst wrote about how the reality of his life sentence had sunk in and how it would take him years after he served the minimum five years before he would be released.
“He said that it was a lonely, hard existence, he was locked in his cell alone for twenty two-and-a-half hours a day, with every minute of his life controlled and he did not have a release date to look forward to. Mr Gorst wrote that he knew he could not do the sentence.” He was also said to have been ‘shocked’ by a knife incident involving prisoners on the wing the day before his death.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Since Mr Gorst’s death the amount of time prisoners have out of their cells at HMP Manchester has improved due to an increase in staff being deployed to the prison.”
For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.
