Hundreds of prisoners have been left without running water for three days after an unexplained outage on Christmas Day.

Affected inmates at HMP Risley say their toilets have not been flushed during the period, which has also seen them locked in cells for 22 hours a day because of a lack of unpaid work and activities.

Gary Grace said a close friend in the Warrington prison had been given only a two-litre bottle of water.

“He’s really scared, he’s got two litres of water over three days – that’s just over a pint a day,” Mr Grace told The Independent.

“None of the toilets have been flushed for a few days on that wing and with it being around Christmas there’s no work, so he’s been in a little cell for 22 hours a day with it.”

The 37-year-old said it was the “latest in a long line of failures” at HMP Risley, which was locked down over a suspected explosive device discovered in November.

Cheshire Police could not confirm whether the item was found to be explosive but said enquiries are ongoing and no arrests have taken place.

The report comes after a series of failings were found at HMP Risley (Getty)

A damning report by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons resulted in an urgent action plan being submitted in February but Mr Grace said it “hasn’t had any impact at all”.

A spokesperson for the Prison Service said hot running water has been returned to the affected wing, which houses just under 200 inmates.

“As a result of a technical issue prisoners in one wing of HMP Risley stopped receiving running water on 25 December,” he added.

“Since then, they have been provided with bottled and hot water, and were able to access hot showers in other parts of the prison.

“Engineers have been working to resolve this as a matter of urgency, and hot running water has now returned to the wing.

“While work goes on to return cold water to the wing prisoners will continue to receive bottled water.”

It is the latest failure at HMP Risley, where a number of concerns were exposed by a 2016 inspection that found “poor” amenities, dirty showers and toilets and a need for pest control.

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The category C training and resettlement prison, which holds 1,115 men serving short sentences or coming to the end of longer terms, was described as a jail “that seemed to be struggling to own and fulfil its core purpose”.

“In three of our tests of a healthy prison, outcomes were not good enough,” concluded HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke.

He said prisoners were not let out of their cells to work and learn for enough time, while the courses that were being run needed improvement in all areas.

HMP Risley was found to be “fundamentally failing” to make inmates less likely to offend as a resettlement prison and former “legal highs” were spreading at the time.

Inspectors warned of poor hygiene in many areas, publishing photos of toilets covered in faeces, mouldy showers, floors ingrained with dirt and evidence of cockroach infestation.

Campaigners have been warning of a mounting crisis in prisons, with recent figures showing self-harm and assaults reaching a record high.