London: Dozens of prison officers have been dismissed and some have been convicted for bringing prohibited items – which can include drugs, tobacco and mobile phones – into jails in England and Wales over the past five years, the Guardian can reveal. Drug finds in jails rose by 18% this year and there have been claims that some prisons have seen similar levels of substance use during the coronavirus lockdown as before. From 2015 up until 10 October this year, HM Prisons (HMP) dismissed 43 staff over prohibited items, and 187 outside staff not directly employed by HMP were banned from working in jails. There were 88 subsequent convictions and 10 police cautions among all those dismissed or banned, according to data released by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) under the Freedom of Information Act.
This year alone, six HMP officers have been dismissed, 23 outside staff have been excluded, and there have been 12 convictions and one caution. Further data from the MoJ shows that at least 22 of the officers dismissed from 2015 to 2020 had trafficked contraband, almost certainly to inmates or organised crime groups inside prisons. The number of prison staff found in possession of prohibited items has been falling since 2017 but looks set to rise this year.
The number of drug finds in prisons rose by 18% in 2019-20, to 21,575, and sim card and mobile phones finds rose by 3%, to 17,302, MoJ figures show. Prison staff, prisoners and inmate relatives told the Guardian that some jails reported either an increase or no change in drug use during lockdown, while others said it had decreased. A prisoner at Wandsworth in south-west London said it had been “business as usual” in terms of drug supply during the lockdown. “So when there were no visits and no teachers or lawyers coming into the jail, how were the drugs, phones and snout getting in?” he asked. This year, four prison officers at Wandsworth were suspended over a range of misconduct allegations, and one was taken out of the prison in handcuffs. The MoJ confirmed that one of the officers had since left the Prison Service. A healthcare worker at a Welsh prison said: “A lot of staff bring drugs and mobile phones in as they are offered a lot of money.”
Read more: Mattha Busby, Eric Allison, Guardian, https://is.gd/BOg415
