Prisoners have been getting themselves recalled to jail so that they can smuggle drugs and other prohibited items to other inmates, it has emerged.
A new report has warned that those who are near their release date are being convinced by gangs to commit minor breaches of their conditions upon release, so that they are returned to prison for a short amount of time.
It is alleged that the offenders then return to prison in possession of drugs, which are then sold among the prison population at a massive profit to the dealer.
Convicts who are near their release date are being convinced by gangs to commit minor breaches of their conditions upon release, so that they are returned to prison (file picture)
The warnings come at a time of almost epidemic use in the prison estate of Spice, a so-called ‘legal high’, which has be linked to a number of incidents.
The number of offenders who were recalled to prison has since February 2015 – when supervision on release was introduced for inmates who served less than a 12 month sentence, according to The Times.
The move was part of a drive to reduced reoffending.
The claims have been made in a report by the independent monitoring board of Portland prison in Dorset, which houses 500 adult and young adult male prisoners.
The report said that the number of inmates in the category C prison was often bolstered by prisoners who had committed minor breaches in the conditions of their release on licence.
Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, told the newspaper: ‘We have been contacted by prison staff concerned that prisoners are being recalled in order to bring drugs into custody.
‘Some of those… are being coerced by gangs on the outside.
‘This is an example of how expanding the reach of the criminal justice system simply creates problems and does nothing to solve them.
The offenders are returning to prison in possession of drugs, which are then sold among the prison population at a massive profit to the dealer (file picture)
‘At a time when prisons are already filled to bursting, it made no sense to ratchet up rules on recall and send thousands of prisoners back behind bars after release.’
Last month detective constable Jamie Thompson, Cheshire Police’s drugs expert, warned the National Custody Seminar organised by the Police Federation that rank and file officers should be aware of former inmates who were seemingly desperate to return to prison for minor crimes.
‘Be on the lookout for offenders who are out on licence and seemingly desperate to get locked up and commit minor crimes to take the drugs into prison,’ he said.
‘One guy broke the window of a police station. He was going to get paid £1,000.’
The 2016-17 report, issued by Portland Prison’s independent monitoring board a fortnight ago, said that while authorities had attempted to tackle mobile phone use, it had appeared impossible to disrupt the prison drugs trade.
Anna Knight, vice-chairwoman of the independent monitoring board at Portland Prison, told the Times: ‘The parameters by which the conditions can be broken are quite slight. It can be as low as being late for a probation appointment.
‘There is a problem with more and more people who are actually involved in criminal gangs making sure they come back on recall because it is a way of them smuggling in drugs and mobile phones.’
Previous academic research has linked the recall system to drug smuggling by offenders and warned of its profligacy.
The study, published in the International Journal of Drug Policy said that: ‘Strong evidence that the licence recall system – a cornerstone of offender management, intended to act as a deterrent and motivation for offenders to change their behaviour – is routinely and systematically abused to bring synthetic cannabinoids into prison.’
A Prison Service spokesman said: ‘We have taken unprecedented action to tackle the supply and use of drugs, including an innovative drug testing programme, the training of over 300 specialist drug dogs and upgrades to CCTV cameras… A new governor has been appointed at Portland and additional officers are being recruited to help step up efforts to tackle drugs.’