Inside Mendy's prison - 29 assaults a month, razor blades melted to toothbrushes

Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy continues to be locked in a prison which averages an assault almost every day - and where a razor blade was melted into a toothbrush.

The Frenchman remains in police custody at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool after being charged with six counts of rape and one of sexual assault relating to four complainants over the age of 16.

Denied bail on three separate occasions, Mendy, who strenuously denies the allegations according to his representative, is facing more time behind bars.

The 27-year-old footballer appeared via video link at Stockport Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, with his trial scheduled on Monday, January 24, 2022.

New information regarding the Category B facility on Merseyside has emerged, where Mendy was put in August following his arrest.

From July 2020 to June 2021, there were 338 assaults within Altcourse prison's walls.

In 35 of those incidents, a weapon was used by inmates.

53 of the attacks resulted in police referrals for prosecution, and one prisoner subsequently received an additional 10 months on their sentence for embedding a razor blade and into a melted down toothbrush.

The annual report by the Independent Monitoring Board, via The Sun, revealed: "The prison's local and urban catchment area has led to more conflict which takes place in the community moving inside the walls.

"To this end one officer spends considerable time trying to unpick the tangled web of Liverpool gangs.

"During the reporting period the average prison population was 1113 with the number of assaults averaging 29 per month which represents slightly over 2 per cent.

"Of these, 21 were prisoner on prisoner and 8 on staff."

The prison is also said to have a problem with substance misuse due to the volume of forbidden drugs being smuggled in, despite no social visits and limited access to exercise areas.

Altcourse has not been drug testing inmates during the pandemic, admitting that the amount of time prisoners spend in their cells may have "hidden" the problem.

And the problems go on, with the prison's English language education course "heavily oversubscribed" due to an intake of "high risk" foreign nationals.

Finally, attacks between inmates 'remain steady' this year, with the report acknowledging that the numbers are perhaps not higher as "prisoners are locked up for most of the day."

In their most recent correspondence regarding the situation, published in August, City said: "Manchester City can confirm that following his being charged by police today, Benjamin Mendy has been suspended pending an investigation.

"The matter is subject to a legal process and the club is therefore unable to make further comment until that process is complete."

Another man, Louis Saha Matturie, has also been charged with six counts of rape and one of sexual assault relating to four complainants aged over 16, but between March 2021 and August 2021.