The governor of Lewes Prison, Paul Carroll, portrays himself as a caring governor (July 13), which I and many others have to question.

Since I have been in Lewes Prison on remand for two months, I have seen nothing more than cutbacks on manpower.

Even the staff have a hard enough job keeping up with the changes. That makes no sense.

If Mr Carroll cares about prisoners' families, why has he cut weekend visits to 45 minutes for remand prisoners and one hour for convicted? Remand prisoners, who were allowed daily visits, are now only allowed three a week, one being at weekends.

The governor stopped clothes for remand prisoners being brought in on visits, now costing families money to send them in. Remand prisoners have to pay to have them sent out.

As for caring about inmates' health and problems, some prisoners have to sleep on urine and blood-stained mattresses, some as thin as half an inch.

If someone is sick in the night there are no keys to allow the night staff to open the doors. It takes 20 minutes to an hour.

There is one night staff on each wing. If you have a drug problem you have to take pot luck for help. One inmate stayed in his cell staring at the ceiling for more than a week before he was moved to healthcare.

The governor should be honest to his officers and the public and not pretend everything is okay, because it is not.

The cutbacks only create problems between inmates and the officers on the wing, who do a good job. Another 35 officers to be lost to cutbacks?

The people outside these walls may like to know the vulnerable prisoners are the sex offenders, 140 of them.

Mr Carroll is not working in Lewes prison. He is working in a prison inside his own mind.

-M J Smith, Wing A 3/19, Lewes Prison