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Staff at Pentonville prison have passed a vote of no confidence in its governor following the brutal killing of an inmate.

Jamal Mahmoud, 21, was stabbed to death at around 3.30pm on Tuesday. Two other men were also stabbed and seriously injured at the Caledonian Road jail.

A prison source told the Tribune Mr Mahmoud was attacked with a knife on the fifth landing. He was then either thrown over the railings or fell off the stairs and landed on the second landing, where his attackers stamped on his head. He died at the scene.

Following the assault, which could be gang-related, around half of the 200 prison officers at the jail passed a “virtually unanimous” vote of no confidence in governor Kevin Reilly. Their union said they are unable to prevent the influx of weapons and drugs being thrown over the prison walls, while also monitoring inmates.

Officers have demanded talks with the deputy governor about reducing the number of inmates allowed in the yard at any one time and increasing the number of staff on prison landings. They also want improved netting around the prison to stop criminal gangs flying drones packed with drugs, mobile phones and weapons inside.

The killing has brought home starkly the decline in safety at Pentonville, despite numerous damning reports from the prison inspectorate detailing a huge rise in violent incidents, drugs being freely available, overcrowding and a chronic lack of staff.

In a statement published on Facebook, Islington South MP Emily Thornberry called for Pentonville to be shut, describing it as “completely inappropriate for modern needs”.

Mr Mahmoud, from Enfield, had become father to a baby son in January. He was jailed for six years and six months in July as one of two gang members sentenced after hiding a loaded Skorpion machine-gun and ammunition in a garden in Enfield. He was already serving five-and-a-half years in prison for a separate robbery.

The victim’s family have called for an investigation. His cousin Amal Egeh said: “How can prisoners get weapons to kill each other? Why wasn’t he safeguarded? We understand Jamal committed a crime and we’re not condoning that, but you would think people would be safe in prison.”

She added: “We are devastated. Losing someone is bad but losing someone in this way is barbaric. We want to see justice for Jamal and we want to see reform in the prison service so that this does not happen again. We want everybody who was supposed to be safeguarding inmates to answer and to be held accountable.”

On Wednesday Bob Neill MP, chairman of the Commons Justice Select Committee, furiously called for an “immediate and thorough” review of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), which is responsible for running Pentonville.

“All the members of the committee are angry about this because we published a report about prison safety in May, reporting the situation was getting worse,” he told the Tribune. “People have been warning NOMS that if this situation carried on there would be deaths.

“The assaults, prisoner-on-prisoner and on prison staff, and incidents of self-harm, are all increasing. There are a number of problems including overcrowding, use of psychoactive substances such as legal highs, and reductions in staff.”

The Conservative MP added: “It means prison officers are not able to supervise, inmates are in lockdown and those conditions breed violence. I called for a review because they have known about the problem for a long time. The national management appears out of touch with what’s happening on the ground. It does not appear to have a grip on the situation. If this means [ministers] need to take more direct control, then so be it.”

Residents living around the prison have repeatedly called on the Ministry of Justice to improve the management of the prison following concerns over criminal gangs smuggling drugs into the jail.

Paul Convery, Labour councillor for Caledonian ward, said residents reported seeing a cardboard box being hauled over the prison wall on Monday. He said: “This could well have contained a murder weapon. There is a perception that it is just so easy to get things over the parameter wall, security is so lax. There has to be some kind of public inquiry into how the prison is run. It’s a scandalous situation.”

Last night (Thursday), two men, aged 21 and 30, remained in an east London hospital in a critical condition. Two prisoners, aged 34 and 26, have been arrested on suspicion of murder as detectives from the Met’s Homicide and Major Crime Command investigate.

An Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: “We have full confidence in the HMP Pentonville governor, who is one of the most experienced governors and is managing a tough regime and challeng­ing population. We are work­ing with him to give them the tools and authority to help make sure all our prisons are places of safety and reform.”

The MoJ also referred to comments made by Lord Keen, who said yesterday: “It is not thought that a public inquiry would be the way forward when we are about to publish a White Paper on prison safety and reform, in which we will address these issues.”