Level of drugs in jails harming prospects of rehabilitation, says watchdog

The volume of drugs being delivered by drones into prisons is severely undermining hopes of rehabilitation among inmates, a watchdog has warned.

- Jamie Grierson

Criminal gangs are smuggling contraband to bored and vulnerable inmates who are locked up for most of the day in filthy cells with little activity, the chief inspector of prisons' annual report said.

Charlie Taylor previously warned that drones dropping drugs at the high-security jails HMP Manchester and HMP Long Lartin amounted to a "threat to national security", and he has repeated calls for the threat to be taken seriously "at the highest levels of government".

Taylor said: "This has been another very difficult year for prisons in England and Wales with the ingress of contraband delivered by drones severely impacting the essential work that many have been able to do with prisoners.