The Prisoners’ Advice Service (PAS), a charity of which I am a trustee, asked the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) last week to release groups of prisoners in order to lessen the impact of coronavirus in the penal estate. They have done it in Iran, so why not here?

The UK government has already announced that it intends to ease pressure on prisons by increasing the number of prisoners released on home detention curfew with a tag.

But the PAS is calling for those inmates who are old or infirm; or have long passed their tariffs – if they are serving a wretched imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence; or simply do not pose a threat, to be released immediately. These include the more than 1,700 prisoners, mostly men, aged 70 and over – some of whom are 80 or older, with a growing number in their 90s.

Releasing these prisoners, who are now completely harmless, will undoubtedly save lives, not just of prisoners but also of prison officers and other staff, especially in jails where there are wings full of elderly inmates. We have already had the first case of Covid-19 in a prisoner at Strangeways in Manchester. Make no mistake, this virus will take hold. Nowhere more so than in our antiquated local jails, such as Strangeways, where two or more prisoners are crammed into cells Victorian prison planners designed for one. Please tell us, justice minister, how such inmates can self-isolate?

Local jails may become charnel houses if nothing is done to release those who represent at worst a nuisance to society

Only last month a report from the National Audit Office on the physical state of prisons revealed a shocking state of disrepair, from leaking roofs and failing heating systems to broken cell windows and rat infestations. So, how can they possibly provide the hygienic conditions needed – particularly for frail, elderly prisoners – to fight this virus. Last year inspectors found that 10 out of 35 men’s prisons weren’t meeting minimum standards of cleanliness and infection control compliance.

When serving time, I experienced a few hairy moments, occasions when I felt my actions would lead to my physical harm. But my biggest fear, always, was suffering a serious illness. Of all the myths peddled by the MoJ, the line that prisoners receive healthcare comparable with that they would receive in the community is the hardest one to swallow.

Writing about the state of the prison system in England and Wales, my inbox is full of horror stories of medical neglect in the penal estate. They include prisoners who have died in hospital, more often than not in chains, after prison medical staff had ignored signs of serious illness until it was too late. The one I recount here did not end in death, but the scale of the neglect still shocks me.

A prisoner in a Midlands jail complained of severe pains in his leg. He was given paracetamol. Then his leg began to turn black and started to smell. The man did not have great mental capacity and simply accepted his pain. He was discharged from a relatively small sentence and his son immediately took him to their GP, who referred him immediately to a specialist. It was, of course, gangrene and there was nothing to be done but amputate. I put them in touch with a lawyer and the man eventually received compensation. But no treatment, on a leg that had turned black and smelly?

Ironically for the hang ’em and flog ’em brigade, the least dangerous prisons in terms of coronavirus will be the high security ones, which house those who have committed the most serious crimes. They are not overcrowded and all inmates have single cells. The local jails may well transform into charnel houses if nothing is done to release those who represent at worst a nuisance, rather than a danger to society.

On Saturday night I spoke to a pal from the old days, who is now retired from the game but keeps abreast of prison matters. He’s a Londoner and we discussed the impact this virus may have on the local jails he and I know well: Pentonville, Wandsworth and Wormwood Scrubs. We discussed our chances of survival if we were back inside any of them. Would we get the medical care our ages (we are now in our 70s) and our underlying medical conditions (I was a heavy smoker) required?

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“More likely to be struck by lightning,” he said. “In Pentonville, we’d be lucky to get a mattress to sleep on.”

As many as 60% of prisoners could become infected with coronavirus, according to Prof Richard Coker at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who has looked at the potential spread of the virus in locked establishments.

Those who say criminals deserve what they get should bear in mind that, in life, as in prisons, there is a pecking order. The poor and disadvantaged, who have committed no crimes, will be the next in the line of fire of this disease.

• Eric Allison is the Guardian’s prisons correspondent. He spent 16 years in prison for theft-related offences