Parties, drones and bootleg booze

FROM partying prisoners to drugs smuggled in by drone, HMP The Mount has been beset by problems in recent years.

The Hertfordshire jail is category C – the lowest level of closed prison – and caters for many prisoners in the last six months of their sentence. Inmates include M25 roadrage killer Kenneth Noye.

Earlier this year two men were jailed for smuggling drugs inside the prison, at Bovingdon, using a drone.

They flew the device over prison walls from a nearby field, so that it could then be recovered by inmates.

A search of prison cells uncovered the drone, packages of cocaine and cannabis, and other items such as mobile phones. And this week it emerged an inmate was using an illicit phone to harass a woman who had a restraining order against him.

In 2015, inmates used smartphones to film themselves throwing parties, drinking alcohol and taking drugs while behind bars.

And a video emerged in March showing a prisoner boasting about his cushy life behind bars, where he claimed to sell spice.

Frankie Dawson, 30, jailed for wounding and inflicting grievous bodily harm, bragged of enjoying meals of steak and cheesecake washed down with bootleg alcohol.

Prisons expert Alex Cavendish says the prison is currently short of 7 officers.