Gangs using drones to drop drug packages into prisons
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor repeated calls on Tuesday for the threat to be taken seriously “at the highest levels of Government” as he released his annual report.
The watchdog chief detailed how a “menu of drugs” is available in prisons where work to rehabilitate criminals is being prevented, with many inmates in their cells for 22 hours a day “high on drugs, watching daytime TV”.
He told reporters that a theoretical possibility of the risk of a prisoner being carried out by a drone was “concerning” as technology is moving fast.
Drone sightings around prisons increased by over 770 per cent between 2019 and 2023 – with some prisons, like HMP Holme House near Stockton, recently adopting drones themselves in a bid to enhance security.
Mr Taylor’s warning comes just weeks after an inspection report revealed prisoners at HMP Durham have been making drugs with shower gel and toothpaste.
The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) which rated the prison as “requires improvement”, detailed how inmates were using everyday items to make “spice”.
A recently published report at HMP Deerbolt, near Barnard Castle, also cited ongoing issues with prisoner violence, most of which are associated with “drugs, violence or debt”.
Government ‘should get a grip’ of issue
Mr Taylor argued there is a level of risk posed by drones that is different, with both “stuff coming in and ultimately the potential for something even more serious to happen”.
He explained: “What I’d like to see is that the prison service really get a grip of this issue and we’d like to see the Government, security services coming together, using technology, using intelligence, so that this risk doesn’t materialise.”
The annual report highlighted concerns that criminal gangs are often using sophisticated drones to target jails and sell contraband to bored and vulnerable inmates.
Mr Taylor said that drones can smuggle in contraband more quickly and accurately than through corrupt prison staff or visits, as they can use location app what3words to deliver “directly to an individual cell”.
The report detailed that 39 per cent of respondents to prisoner surveys said it was easy to get drugs in prison, and inspectors regularly visited prisons where the recorded rate of positive random drug tests was more than 30 per cent.
It said in many jails there were “seemingly uncontrollable levels of criminality” that often inexperienced staff were unable to contain.
It also found it “unsurprising” that national rates of violence increased last year, making the chance of rehabilitation unlikely.
Last month, the Independent Monitoring Board’s annual report on prisons found violence remained “excessively high”, which was driven by overcrowding, inadequate mental health support and a surge in drug use.
Of weapons, Mr Taylor said: “I have been in prisons where they showed inspectors some pretty frightening-looking knives that have got in, which they suspect have got in as a result of drones.”
The discovery of the zombie knife was after the period covered in the annual report.
The watchdog boss said in the report: “This is a threat that needs to be taken seriously at the highest levels of Government.
“Only when drugs are kept out, and prisoners are involved in genuinely purposeful activity that will help them to get work and resettle successfully on release, can we expect to see prisons rehabilitate rather than just contain the men and women they hold.”
Mr Taylor’s report also found overcrowding and lack of activity caused frustration among prisoners which fuelled the demand for drugs, with many spending most of the day in cramped shared cells with broken furniture and vermin.
Overcrowding also meant there were not enough places for every prisoner to take part in work or education while in custody, but even when there were spaces available inspectors found underused workshops because of staff shortages.
Purposeful activity was the worst performing assessment category by inspectors, with 28 out of 38 adult prisons visited deemed to be “poor” or “not sufficiently good” in this area.
The findings, reviewed from April 2024 to March 2025, come as ministers grapple with overcrowding and high-profile security incidents in jails.
The Government approved the use of protective body armour for prison staff in high security areas after four prison officers were attacked with hot oil and homemade weapons by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi at HMP Frankland in April.
Ministers have also vowed to create 14,000 new prison places by 2031 and have accepted recommendations from the independent sentencing review to curb overcrowding in the long term.
‘Deep crisis’
Responding to the prison watchdog’s annual report, Andrea Coomber KC, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “This report is a checklist for all the reasons the Government must prioritise reducing prison numbers, urgently.
“Sentencing reform is essential, and sensible steps to reduce the prison population would save lives, protect staff, and help more people to move on from crime.”
Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, also said the report paints a sadly familiar picture of a prison system in deep crisis, which is not just a prison problem but a “public safety issue”.
“Prisons should be places of rehabilitation, not warehouses of despair,” she said.
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Responding to the report, prisons minister Lord James Timpson said ministers are improving prisons so they “cut crime, not create better criminals”.
“This report shows the scale of the crisis we inherited and the unacceptable pressures faced by our hardworking staff – with prisons dangerously full, rife with drugs and violence,” he said.
“We’re also investing £40 million to bolster security, alongside stepping up cooperation with police to combat drones and stop the contraband which fuels violence behind bars”.
Later, he told MPs that drugs are “like a drain” on the system, and that the reasons why prisoners want to take drugs should be examined, as well as tackling supply.
Giving evidence to the Commons Justice Committee, he said the Government had a plan in place to bring down the number of positive drugs tests, but that this would need to be done at the same time as reducing prisoner numbers.
Current capacity stood at 98.2% full, he said.