Prisoners order drugs ‘Deliveroo-style’ to their cells
DRUG smuggling and mobile phones are so prevalent in prison that inmates can order “Deliveroo-style” deliveries of illegal substances direct to their cells, the Justice Secretary has said.
David Gauke compared the ease with which people can obtain drugs in prison to the fast food delivery app, as he made his first major speech since taking up the position in January. He announced yesterday that new technology would be introduced at 30 prisons to allow officers to download data immediately from phones seized from prisoners in an attempt to disrupt the movement of drugs.
He also set out plans to “cut off ” kingpins from their operations by moving them to higher-security facilities in order to stop prisons being the “perfect marketplace” for gangs.
Mr Gauke said the problem of drugs entering prison had “always been a challenge” but that the environment had changed with the emergence of cheap and highly addictive psychoactive substances, such as Spice.
He said that prisons provided criminal gangs with a “captive market made up of some of society’s most susceptible and vulnerable groups”. Meanwhile, Spice, a “synthetic marijuana”, can sell for many times its street value in prison but it is “relatively cheap to buy” compared with other drugs, making it attractive to prisoners and gangs alike. The Justice Secretary said: “While there have always been lowlevel networks dealing in cigarettes or illegal contraband, the criminal networks and supply chains have recently got larger and more complex and new technologies have empowered gangs to be more sophisticated and brazen about the way drugs are smuggled in.
“Many of you will be aware of the kind of things I’m talking about. Spice, and other drugs, ordered with Deliveroo-style responsiveness on tiny mobile phones from prison cells and delivered by drones direct to cell windows. The paint used in supposed children’s drawings sent to their parents in prison laced with liquid psychoactive drugs, or the pages of fake legal letters purporting to be from a prisoner’s solicitor soaked in drugs.”
Mr Gauke said that improved intelligence operations had resulted in at least 30 convictions for drone activity and that in December, 11 gang members were handed sentences totalling more than 32 years for using drones to smuggle contraband.
The Justice Secretary said he wanted to build on that success. “I can also announce that we are installing technology at 30 prisons that will allow officers to quickly download data from illicit phones seized from prisoners,” he said.
“If a phone has details about an expected drone drop later that day, officers will be able to know where, how and when and can act on that intelligence and intercept it.”