Broken windows making it easy to drop drugs and weapons into jails – report

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. This is a very concerning report that once again highlights the shocking extent of the prison crisis we inherited Lord Timpson Delayed maintenance and repairs had “serious safety implications at many prisons”, with broken windows and grilles meaning there was an “increased the risk of illicit items being smuggled into the prison”, the report said. Delays in broken windows being replaced were making it easier in several jails for “drones to deliver items such as drugs and weapons to the prison”, according to the findings. – Inmates being bitten by “venomous false widow spiders” at HMP Bullingdon, near Oxford, although jail officials attributed this to disturbance caused by renovation work rather than a lack of cleanliness. Rob Preece, from charity the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the report was further evidence of the “urgent need for change in the prison system”, adding: “Instead of wasting billions on building new jails, we should focus our attention on fixing the problems in the ones we already have.” Campbell Robb, chief executive of social justice charity Nacro, said the “abhorrent conditions… should have no place in a modern prison system”.