Inmates are managing to use drones to smuggle drugs into Pentonville prison because broken windows are not being repaired, a watchdog warned today.
Staff were making “every effort” to stop drugs and “other contraband” from getting in, said the Independent Monitoring Board for the London jail.
But it warned that their attempts were “like holding a hand up against the incoming tide” because “dilapidated” windows had made most of the prison “porous” to the streets outside.
It said drones were being “steered to ledges outside broken windows” to bring drugs in. Illicit substances were also being “hauled up on lines” and inmates were further exploiting the prison’s tatty state by passing drugs and banned mobile phones between cells.
The board said replacing “the 100 worst windows” could make “a big difference” in countering the flow and criticised ministers for failing to ensure contractors did the repairs, despite the problem being known for two years.
The findings, in a report to ministers, will add to concerns about the impact of drugs in jails. They follow a warning last week by Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke that former legal highs are triggering an unprecedented level of violence and disorder behind bars.
Pentonville’s IMB warned in its report that Spice, a laboratory-created cannabis substitute once legal but now outlawed, is a “major challenge” and driving “a whole illicit economy, violence, self-harm and bullying” in that prison and others.
It added: “Pentonville has had the ambition to replace windows for two years. Everyone is waiting. The board would like the minister to set a date for this work to be completed in 2016.”
The report also told of four deaths at the jail, three self-inflicted, in the past year and warned of cells blighted by cockroaches, poor ventilation and a lack of natural light. Some cells were “frequently out of action” because of floods or fire damage.
But the report said violence, which has risen sharply in other prisons, had fallen at Pentonville.
The Ministry of Justice said: “There are factors, including the availability of psychoactive substances, which must be tackled to make our prisons safe.”
