TV takes close look at 'volcano' jail

ITV1 said it has been given unprecedented access to one of Europe's biggest and toughest jails housing up to 1,280 male inmates, hearing powerful accounts of emotional turmoil, frustration and anger.

The broadcaster said those in the London prison range from "drug addicted petty villains to sophisticated thieves and extremely violent, often disturbed, criminals".

The two films will show how staff, often in the face of provocation and violence, deal with disruptive prisoners who try to harm themselves or make suicide bids.

Prison governor Phil Taylor says life in the prison can be like a "smouldering or erupting volcano" as tensions boil over.

"A lot of our prisoners are illiterate, or innumerate, some of them have never worked in their lives some have been criminals from a very young age and they are really damaged and difficult people to work with," he says. "All the more reason why we should work with them."

The programmes promise to lift the lid on prison culture, showing how smuggled drugs and mobile phones are used as currency and lethal weapons are fashioned from everyday products such as toothbrushes.

Documentary makers said they will reveal the "shocking truth" about drug availability. One prisoner tells the programme that people deliberately commit crime to get into prison to "get rich" by dealing drugs.

Cameras also follow the staff as they deal with a suicide and then attempt to keep order as the wing erupts in anger.