CELLS and exercise yards such as those used by some of the UK's most dangerous prisoners at Full Sutton prison near York have been labelled grim, dehumanising and 'unacceptably oppressive' by prison inspectors.

You might have little sympathy. After all, prisons aren't supposed to be holiday resorts.

But institutions such as Full Sutton are pressure cookers of rage and frustration. Inmates have included IRA terrorists and criminals such as Jeremy Bamber and Charles Bronson.

Keep such men in dehumanising surroundings and no-one should be surprised if problems erupt.

Full Sutton has had its share. In 2011, child murderer Colin Hatch was himself murdered by another inmate at the prison. Last year, two prisoners posted crude bombs from their cells to solicitors in West Yorkshire and Lancashire. There have been escape attempts, and more than one riot. In one, in 1998, five prison officers and seven inmates were injured.

Prison is supposed to be about rehabilitation as well as punishment. But ultimately, ensuring that the conditions in which dangerous criminals are locked up are not too oppressive is a matter of public safety as much as it is of simple humanity.

The prison inspectors reported on five top security prisons around the country, including Full Sutton.

They identified much that was good at Full Sutton - including the 'mostly positive' relationship between prisoners and guards.

But when an inmate at one of the five prisons described his top security cell as ‘like a submarine’, something is not right.

We shouldn't forget that prison is prison. But Full Sutton must act on the inspectors' recommendations urgently to ensure all prisoners are at least treated humanely as a minimum standard.