Attempts to stop drone deliveries to prisons hindered by weak Victorian walls
Drone incidents at prisons have increased by more than 1,000 per cent over four years
Crumbling walls in Victorian-era prisons are making it difficult to stop drones from delivering prohibited items to inmates.
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Prison governors have said that plans to install netting or window grilles to stop drones from entering prison grounds were paused because the walls were unable to handle any extra weight.
Gang members can fly packages, which can contain weight loss and hair loss drugs, steroids, and fast food, directly to cell windows where inmates retrieve them with a hook.
Drone incidents at prisons have increased by more than 1,000 per cent over four years.
Recent plans to attach anti-drone netting to HMP Pentonville were halted after it was discovered that the bricks were too soft, a source told The Guardian.
The nets work by catching the drone's propellers.
Tom Wheatley, the president of the Prison Governors Association, said that anti-drone measures are coming up against structural problems and they aren't being introduced quickly enough.
He told The Guardian: “Physical measures such as netting, wires and grilles are the preferred option for preventing contraband getting into prisons. They make it almost impossible.
“In some prisons, there are concerns that such measures put extra weight on the walls and the weight can be too much for the buildings.”
In March, a gang that used drones to smuggle drugs, weapons, and phones into prisons across London in a system likened to Deliveroo and Uber Eats for inmates was jailed.
Judge James Lofthouse said it was a “well-oiled conspiracy” which prison guards struggled to tackle – even if they had actually seen the drones making the drop-offs at cell windows.
He added that inmates had items delivered “to order”, and criticised the “corrosive” impact on prison safety and security from drones arriving with packages “as if by Uber Eats or Deliveroo”.
Staff shortages meant guards could head to the cells to watch – through the door hatch – as “prisoners were stuffing items behind pipes”.
But by the time enough prison staff were available to conduct a search, the illicit items had vanished, said the judge.
In July last year, chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor warned of the increased risk drones would pose for smuggling drugs into prisons.
The watchdog chief said: “There is a level of risk that’s posed by drones that I think is different from what we’ve seen in the past, and both with stuff coming in and ultimately the potential for something even more serious to happen.
“What I’d like to see is that the prison service really get a grip of this issue and and we’d like to see the Government, security services coming together, using technology, using intelligence, so that this risk doesn’t materialise.”
Netting was installed over Pentonville's exercise yard a few years ago, but stronger mesh couldn't be installed in other parts of the prison after engineers found that the walls couldn't hold it.
A Prison Service spokesperson denied the claims that the walls were too weak.
They said: “All improvements to prison security are tailored to individual jails, following detailed structural assessments to ensure they are safe and effective.
“We have invested over £40m to fund a range of physical security enhancements. These improved measures will boost safety, combat the influx of drone activity and clamp down on suspected wrongdoing behind bars.”