Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor details “decrepit” conditions, rising violence, self-harm and widespread drug use, in a report published on Tuesday.

Smell of rat urine ‘overpowering’ at squalid and failing prison, says watchdog

The Chief Inspector of Prisons has written to the Secretary of State to invoke an urgent notification for improvement at HMP Rochester in Kent.

First category C jail issued with urgent notification after ‘decade of decline’

MER LAUREN EDWARDS MP ROCHESTER AND STROOD LABOUR KENT 
CREDIT UK PARLIAMENT

The new Labour MP for Rochester & Strood has apologised for a ‘significant error of judgement’ after old social media posts are shared online.

Rochester MP apologises for 'significant error of judgement' over old tweets

HMP Cookham Wood stock
A general view of the entrance to HMP Cookham Wood in Rochester, Kent.
Picture by: Gareth Fuller/PA Archive/PA Images
Date taken: 28-Nov-2007
Image size: 3344 x 2137
Image ref #: 5384541
Instructions: nonwire

HMP Cookham Wood will reopen within weeks as part of plans to create an extra 500 prison places across England to deal with an expected upsurge in demand. 

Kent prison 'repurposed' to house expected influx of riot criminals

Shauneen Fowler's nine-year-old Jack Russell, Buddy, began the collecting them three years ago after he was neutered as a puppy.

Dog 'obsessed' with tennis balls steals more than one hundred from park

The men used the baseball bat during an unprovoked street attack in Rochester on three victims, which left them suffering multiple injuries.

Men who beat victim with baseball bat with such force it broke in half jailed

A man has been charged with attempted murder as police investigate an assault in Rochester where a man was found with injuries consistent with stab wounds.

Man charged with attempted murder in connection with a stabbing in Rochester

Following a public appeal, a man in his 20s was arrested by officers investigating the teenager’s whereabouts.

Police identify last sighting of missing teenage girl

All five Medway towns will now have light displays after local companies stepped in.

Christmas lights saved by local businesses after council axes funding

Five towns won't be feeling quite as festive this year with a council announcing that its Christmas lights aren't going up.

Christmas lights cancelled in five towns in 'difficult' Labour decision 

Kye Hughes, 34 asked the woman to transfer various sums of money for almost a year, promising a return on her investment but it never materialised.

Fraudster who conned woman he met on dating app out of £175,000 jailed

The pair were taken to an RSPCA centre where they have been named Oliver and Pippa. 

Two 12-week-old kittens abandoned in field

Commemorations have been held to honour three men who died when the Kent Air Ambulance crashed near Rochester 25 years ago today. 

Helicopter 'bows in tribute' on 25th anniversary of deadly air ambulance crash 

The Cookham Wood inspection revealed boys were not kept safe and didn't get good enough care.

Youth prison report found 200 weapons and solitary confinement

The exhibition depicts the two coastal homelands of Sussex artist Reem Acason who was in the Middle East to a Bahraini father and English mother.  

Meridian Rochester

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