Influence of gangs in jails 'keeps me awake at night', says minister

Organised criminal gangs who "corrupt" staff and enforce drug debts with violence hold such a huge influence over jails across England and Wales that the prisons minister has said it keeps him awake at night.

- Rajeev Syal

James Timpson said Prison Service staff who worked with criminal gangs to smuggle drugs and contraband into jails were being targeted by a "beefed up" counter-corruption unit that last year prosecuted 37 officers.

There have been concerns from prison watchdogs that criminal gangs are taking control of prisons - a claim Lord Timpson rejects. Criminologists have said the gangs are targeting and corrupting inexperienced officers.

"Serious organised crime is a big problem, a huge problem, and it's one of the things that keeps me awake at night, because of the impact it has on a prison's environment, from drugs, debt, violence and everything that goes with that," Timpson said.

"They corrupt both men and women to bring in drugs. And a lot of these serious organised criminals are in their cells at night, they're very wealthy people and are connected with very big illegal businesses."