The family of a prisoner has spoken out about the ‘hellish condition’ inside and said  they are appalled at the ‘de-humanising treatment’ shown in a high-security facility.

Morgan Thackwell, a 23-year-old from Marlow, was remanded in custody in March after being charged with drug and weapons offences.

After visiting her son at HMP Bullingdon in Arncott and hearing of his treatment, Jacquline Thackwell spoke to this newspaper in an emotional conversation about her son's current situation.

In a letter to the newspaper, Morgan painted a shocking picture of life in the prison where overcrowding and unsafe living conditions have been reported.

Jacqueline said: “It’s absolutely heartbreaking. The conditions that they are forced to live in feel like they want to keep people as docile as possible.

“Morgan has stated that at meal times, guards will just repeatedly shout "feed". They're not animals and it's unnecessarily belittling.”

In a shocking account, Morgan’s mum recounted an instance where her son was given anti-depressents when in need of pain relief.

She said: “He didn't feel right whilst he was taking and accidentally managed to find out he had been taking Amitriptyline, which whilst it can be used for certain types of pain, it is an antidepressant used to treat major depressive disorder.

“He understandably was unhappy he had not been informed of this beforehand as he would have said no, and is no longer taking them.”

In a conversation overheard on the bus back from the prison, Jacqueline states that a guard spoke crudely about a prisoner who had attempted suicide 300 times within the facility.

She said: “I just remember thinking, this is somebody's child or relative and it would be heartbreaking if someone you loved was being treated with such disdain. Also, he needs to be in a hospital, not a prison.”

With many prisons now reportedly packed to capacity and overcrowding a common occurrence, Kier Starmer stated that there were “too many prisoners and not enough prisons” upon being appointed as Prime Minister.

The new government is set to announce plans to release prisoners early to stop jails becoming full.

Morgan's Mum said: “I definitely think something needs to be done. In my opinion, there are too many people in prison on remand waiting to be seen in court for sentencing.

“Morgan's court case has been delayed a couple of times now. I do think people are kept on remand for too long and after six months tops, bar extremely complex cases need to be charged and tried.”

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to set out a number of emergency measures to free up space in prisons.

The main measure will be automatically releasing prisoners on “standard determinate sentences” after they have served 40% of their sentence, government sources confirmed.