A prisoner from Wimbledon was stabbed to death in Coldingley Prison on Friday.

Madala Washington, 25, of Abbey Parade, was knifed in the stomach during lunchtime.

He was pronounced dead about an hour after the attack, despite the efforts of police and the London Air Ambulance, who went to the Category C resettlement jail in Bisley, Surrey.

Washington was among 13 people arrested and charged after Metropolitan Police dawn raids against drug dealers.

FROM SEPTEMBER 2013: Thirteen charged after Metropolitan Operation Burney drugs raids in Merton, Wandsworth, Croydon and Lambeth

He was charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroine and convicted at Kingston Crown Court in 2013.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of Washington’s murder, according to Surrey Police.

A spokesman said: “A 25-year-old man, believed to be from south-west London, was sadly declared dead at the scene.

"A 23-year-old man, who is also an inmate at the prison, has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody while the investigation continues.

"Officers from the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team are making a number of enquiries to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and are working with HM Prison Service and the Ministry of Justice."

The Prison Service said an investigation would be carried out by the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.

Coldingley is a category C training prison, meaning inmates are considered unlikely to make a determined escape attempt but cannot be trusted in open conditions.

It has capacity for around 500 prisoners in five wings, where inmates are mainly housed in single cells, and is focused on the " resettlement of prisoners" .

The death comes against a backdrop of concerns about rising cases of violence in UK prisons.

There were 257 deaths in custody last year including eight homicides, more than in any other year since records started in 1978.

In 2015 Coldingley's independent monitoring board wrote to prisons minister Andrew Selous over its concerns about the jail.

Its report blamed an increase in home-made weapons at the prison and illegal drugs on cuts to the number of prison officers and staff.

Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, said: "We do not comment on ongoing police investigations, but generally there has been an increase in violence, and indeed homicides, in our prisons.

"We believe that is due to the lack of prison officers - some 7,000 have been made redundant since 2010.

"Our prisons are a more violent place than they have been. It is tragic that someone has lost their life."