Rose West, 72, reportedly in poor health in prison with emergency evacuation plan

Mixed · 2Rose West, 72, is reportedly in deteriorating health in HMP New Hall, the high-security prison in West Yorkshire where she is held. 1 2 Mixed · 2A source in the jail told The Sun that West is in a "really bad way" and can "barely move"; both outlets relay this account, and it has not been independently confirmed. 1 2 Mixed · 2The source said she has been placed on a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP), a plan for prison staff supervising inmates whose health could affect their ability to evacuate safely in a fire or similar emergency. 1 2

Mixed · 2The source said a PEEP is extremely rare, and the Express adds that it involves plotting an escape route, assigning staff and having equipment such as a wheelchair on hand. 1 2 Mixed · 2The source also said people in the prison have been saying she "does not have long left", that she cannot leave her wing and that she is resigned to dying in jail. 1 2 Left · 1The Mirror, quoting the source, adds that she rarely goes outside, cannot go to the gym or do activities such as yoga, and mostly watches television and reads. 1

Right · 1The Express reports it is understood that she has access to TV, DVDs and computer games and £20 a week to spend in the canteen, and that she was previously disciplined for sexually assaulting a young female inmate in her 20s. 2 Mixed · 2A Prison Service spokesperson said: "Rose West's crimes were horrific, and she will rightly spend the rest of her life behind bars." The reports quote no comment on her health. 1 2 Mixed · 2West was jailed for life in 1995 for murders committed with her husband Fred at their Gloucester home; the Mirror says at least nine murders between 1967 and 1987, while the Express says 10 girls and women. 1 2

Mixed · 2Fred West killed himself in 1995, aged 53, while awaiting trial; many victims were buried at the couple's home, which has since been demolished. 1 2 Left · 1The Mirror adds that West moved to New Hall from Low Newton prison in Durham in 2019, and that she was reportedly ordered to diet by prison doctors several years ago after being deemed dangerously overweight. 1