Football matches and concerts have better security than some jails, Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers Association said.
He explained that jails were failing to crack down on inmates obtaining illicit items through drone deliveries at night because the UK’s prison bosses were ‘not up for the fight.’
‘I’ve never seen it so bad. I’ve never seen it so overcrowded and I’ve never seen it so violent,’ he told The Times.
‘If we had to lock down a wing or an area day after day after day to get rid of mobile phones, weapons and drugs, the staff on the front line are up for that. At the moment there’s a lot of people getting appeased because the people in charge of our prisons are not up for the fight.’
Despite Labour’s prison release scheme, which freed thousands of prisoners early to protect the prison system, the prison estate is nearly at capacity.
In one of the country’s most dangerous jails there has been fears that inmates will exploit the overcrowding and attack guards.
‘Why on earth we haven’t got body scanners at the gate to randomly put people through like they do at an airport, I have no idea,’ Mr Fairhurst added. ‘I’ve seen better security at concerts and football matches than I have going into prisons.’
He explained that prisons are full of illicit items including, phones, drugs and weapons because managers are ‘reluctant’ to lock down prisoners.
Football matches and concerts have better security than some jails, Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers Association said
Despite Labour’s prison release scheme, which freed thousands of prisoners early to protect the prison system, the prison estate is nearly at capacity
In one of the country’s most dangerous jails there has been fears that inmates will exploit the overcrowding and attack guards
One of the biggest problems is drones, which drop off illegal deliveries at night to the UK’s understaffed prisons.
He warned: ‘My biggest fear is it’s only a matter of time before a firearm is delivered to a cell window.’
The number of assaults on staff in adult prisons in England and Wales per year has reached its highest level in a decade, according to government data released last month.
The government said prisoners are punished if caught with contraband and that they are working with the police to stop drones from entering the premises of prisons.
The Ministry of Justice said: ‘This government inherited prisons in crisis — overcrowded, with drugs and violence rife — but we are gripping the situation and taking action. We are building 14,000 new places by 2031 and reforming sentencing so our prisons never run out of space again.
‘We are also bolstering security to stop more contraband entering jails. And we have strengthened vetting — including for temporary staff — to root out those who fall below our high standards.’
