A PRISON watchdog has warned that a lack of education in an Oxfordshire prison will see more inmates offend again.

The Prison Reform Trust spoke out after an independent report said education services at Bullingdon Prison, near Bicester, “must be resolved extremely urgently”.

The report said the type and number of courses, provided by outside bodies, was too limited and there was a “worrying turnover of staff”.

It also criticised health services and illegal drug smuggling.

Prison Reform Trust director Juliet Lyon said: “The trust notes with concern that Bullingdon is struggling with problems not of its making in the outsourced delivery of education and healthcare.

“Education and healthcare are vital elements in rehabilitation and work to prevent re-offending.

“One positive new development will be the government’s commitment to divert, as far as possible, people who are mentally ill away from custody into the treatment they need.”

The Independent Monitoring Board report, which covers August 2009 to July 2010, also called for specialist technology and better surveillance to stop drugs being smuggled into the jail.

The move comes after an inmate filmed parcels of illegal substances being thrown over the wall using a smuggled mobile phone.

It also said inmates are waiting up to six weeks for a GP appointment and foreign prisoners are waiting too long to be deported.

The report said: “The board continues to be generally satisfied with the overall standard of the prison management, treatment of prisoners and facilities provided.”

But it added: “The very serious issues concerning the poor provision of education and healthcare through the outsourced contracts are deeply worrying because of the impact on prisoners – but they are not of the prison’s making.”

A Prison Service spokesman said ministers would study the IMB report and respond in due course.