Scanners and dogs to target the ten worst jails
PRISONERS in Britain’s ten worst jails face a crackdown on an epidemic of rampant drug use and violence.
Governors are to be given militarystyle training on how to tackle disruptive behaviour, and millions will be spent on body scanners and sniffer dogs to spot hidden packages of drugs.
Prisons minister Rory Stewart yesterday pledged £10million for the initiative to improve security, following a report last month which warned that conditions in prisons were the most ‘disturbing’ ever seen. It is hoped that, if successful, the pilot scheme will be rolled-out to all prisons as a ‘model of excellence’.
Mr Stewart said: ‘With more than 20,000 prison officers, 84,000 prisoners, and over 100 prisons, it is vital we set challenging standards so prisons are places where offenders can turn their lives around. With the right leadership on the ground, and support from the centre, these ten prisons will pave the way for a new approach, a new ethos and a new direction.’
Last month’s report by Peter Clarke, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, said jails were rife with violence, drugs, suicide and selfharm, overcrowding and squalor. It also revealed that a ‘ shockingly high’ one in seven inmates became hooked on drugs while behind bars.
Yesterday the minister announced that a further £16million will go into repairing buildings, including improving living conditions and making them cleaner, £7million on safety and security measures and £7million for controversial in- cell telephones – designed to discourage the use of illegal mobile phones and avoid fights in queues for the landing phones.
The prisons in the pilot scheme – Hull, Humber, Leeds, Lindholme, Moorland, Wealstun, Nottingham, Ranby, Isis and Wormwood Scrubs – have been deemed the worst in the country. They have all struggled with high drug use, violence and building issues.
The project will begin by the end of 2018 and results are expected within a year.