It’s far too early and I’m still half asleep to dig the bones out of that article so after I’ve got home from my shift at the Big House I’ll post my musings. I’ll definitely be making a reply to @Lincsaddick ‘s take on things.
Just settled down after an uneventful day and will just offer my thoughts on this, given my insider knowledge.
As stated in the article, the high security estate already has dedicated search teams (DST) that do nothing but try and disrupt the flow of contraband coming into our prisons. As I’m ‘lucky’ enough to work in one of the prisons that make up the high security estate I have some knowledge of how they operate and how they go about their work. This talk of ‘hit squads’ being recruited to storm into prisons is quite frankly propaganda. It already happens. A few of our lads and lasses were down at Wormword Scrubs a few months ago on an operation to clean it up a bit and hearing of some of the finds it might have helped for a bit but for the MoJ to suggest it as a new initiative is slightly misleading. How I see it is that DST groups will be rolled out to Cat B and C prisons with staff recruited from in-house rather than some MoJ bod hanging out in Hereford on the off-chance they can find a few SAS types that fancy a change of career. These officers will need specialist training which accounts for the figures quoted in my opinion.
I’ve stated before on here that I feel lucky to work in the prison that I do despite the fact we have some of the worst criminals in the system. Because we house convicted terrorists, big time gang members and drug dealers, serial killers and prolific sex offenders we are afforded reasonable numbers of officers. If I hit an alarm bell I’m fairly confident I’ll have back up arriving in moments. This isn’t the case the lower the system you go. I was talking to a couple of lads who’ve not been in the job long and they told me about a lad they trained with who was posted to a Cat C jail and was unfortunately a victim of an assault. He was escorting a prisoner who decided to have a pop and this officer was in a one on one scrap for four minutes before anyone came to his aid. That is shocking and sickening but only one incident of many where the blame can be laid squarely at the Governments door for their wilful neglect of the service over the past eight years. The reason our prisons are awash with drugs, mobiles and other contraband is because there is simply not enough staff to do the job properly, to make sure the security measures are put in place to restrict the flow.
Here’s where I’ll take exception to Lincsaddicks comment reference ‘a lot of the screws losing their nice little earners’. A lot? Seriously? I’ll admit that there are bent officers who will traffic for their own financial gain but the numbers are tiny and to suggest that their is a whole swathe of dodgy screws is insulting. The majority of officers are ordinary, working family men and women who do their job with integrity and honesty and rest assured we’re as disgusted as you Lincs when these corrupt bad apples are exposed. I know first hand as a female officer I did my training with and who I considered a friend was caught trafficking into my prison. No one will never know how let down I felt personally and I shed not one tear when she was sent down for four years and eight months. Our prisons aren’t awash with drugs because of bent officers but because for a section of our society it’s a money maker. There are some in the system who think nothing of doing a short sentence because if they can successfully get in the spice they have shoved up their arses upon arrival they can make a fair wedge. For some, it’s a career option that’s better than working for minimum wage.
I’ve rambled but the point is if the state of our prisons and our ability to make them a place of rehabilitation instead of cesspits is to be achieved then we have to be given the appropriate financial backing to accomplish this and in all honesty I have no faith that the political or societal will to do that is there.
Just settled down after an uneventful day and will just offer my thoughts on this, given my insider knowledge.
As stated in the article, the high security estate already has dedicated search teams (DST) that do nothing but try and disrupt the flow of contraband coming into our prisons. As I’m ‘lucky’ enough to work in one of the prisons that make up the high security estate I have some knowledge of how they operate and how they go about their work. This talk of ‘hit squads’ being recruited to storm into prisons is quite frankly propaganda. It already happens. A few of our lads and lasses were down at Wormword Scrubs a few months ago on an operation to clean it up a bit and hearing of some of the finds it might have helped for a bit but for the MoJ to suggest it as a new initiative is slightly misleading. How I see it is that DST groups will be rolled out to Cat B and C prisons with staff recruited from in-house rather than some MoJ bod hanging out in Hereford on the off-chance they can find a few SAS types that fancy a change of career. These officers will need specialist training which accounts for the figures quoted in my opinion.
I’ve stated before on here that I feel lucky to work in the prison that I do despite the fact we have some of the worst criminals in the system. Because we house convicted terrorists, big time gang members and drug dealers, serial killers and prolific sex offenders we are afforded reasonable numbers of officers. If I hit an alarm bell I’m fairly confident I’ll have back up arriving in moments. This isn’t the case the lower the system you go. I was talking to a couple of lads who’ve not been in the job long and they told me about a lad they trained with who was posted to a Cat C jail and was unfortunately a victim of an assault. He was escorting a prisoner who decided to have a pop and this officer was in a one on one scrap for four minutes before anyone came to his aid. That is shocking and sickening but only one incident of many where the blame can be laid squarely at the Governments door for their wilful neglect of the service over the past eight years. The reason our prisons are awash with drugs, mobiles and other contraband is because there is simply not enough staff to do the job properly, to make sure the security measures are put in place to restrict the flow.
Here’s where I’ll take exception to Lincsaddicks comment reference ‘a lot of the screws losing their nice little earners’. A lot? Seriously? I’ll admit that there are bent officers who will traffic for their own financial gain but the numbers are tiny and to suggest that their is a whole swathe of dodgy screws is insulting. The majority of officers are ordinary, working family men and women who do their job with integrity and honesty and rest assured we’re as disgusted as you Lincs when these corrupt bad apples are exposed. I know first hand as a female officer I did my training with and who I considered a friend was caught trafficking into my prison. No one will never know how let down I felt personally and I shed not one tear when she was sent down for four years and eight months. Our prisons aren’t awash with drugs because of bent officers but because for a section of our society it’s a money maker. There are some in the system who think nothing of doing a short sentence because if they can successfully get in the spice they have shoved up their arses upon arrival they can make a fair wedge. For some, it’s a career option that’s better than working for minimum wage.
I’ve rambled but the point is if the state of our prisons and our ability to make them a place of rehabilitation instead of cesspits is to be achieved then we have to be given the appropriate financial backing to accomplish this and in all honesty I have no faith that the political or societal will to do that is there.
I know prisons are fairly large but it always amazes me how they get so much contra band in there.
A lot of prisons are slap bang in the middle of city centres with only the wall coming between the pavement and the prisons themselves (Wakefield, Hull and Leeds definitely are) so a well aimed parcel over the wall, if undetected by staff, are picked up by the cons and distributed. These city centre prisons are also easily breached by drones, which can be flown directly to cell windows if correctly coordinated though there are measures being put in place to stop this. As I explained in my earlier post prisoners will often arrive into our custody with arses stuffed with drugs which they can then sell on. Family members also attempt to make passes on visits or in some instances people have been known to be recruited by criminal elements to visit a number of prisoners to traffic to. Spice, which is an absolute fucking nightmare, can be made in liquid form which is then soaked into paper and sent in as a normal letter though again, a lot of prisons are now photocopying mail and handing out the copies.
It’s a constant battle and not one that looks like being won anytime soon.
I know prisons are fairly large but it always amazes me how they get so much contra band in there.
Me too. Also how the hell do they charge the phones they get in there?
You’d be surprised what a prisoner can fit in his colon. If you ever get sent down never ask to borrow a charger because you’ll never know where it’s been retrieved from.
I know prisons are fairly large but it always amazes me how they get so much contra band in there.
Me too. Also how the hell do they charge the phones they get in there?
You’d be surprised what a prisoner can fit in his colon. If you ever get sent down never ask to borrow a charger because you’ll never know where it’s been retrieved from.
Surely the prison cells don’t have access to a power socket ?
I know prisons are fairly large but it always amazes me how they get so much contra band in there.
Me too. Also how the hell do they charge the phones they get in there?
You’d be surprised what a prisoner can fit in his colon. If you ever get sent down never ask to borrow a charger because you’ll never know where it’s been retrieved from.
At Medway police station I believe the term used by custody staff is 'the Chatham pocket'
I know prisons are fairly large but it always amazes me how they get so much contra band in there.
Me too. Also how the hell do they charge the phones they get in there?
You’d be surprised what a prisoner can fit in his colon. If you ever get sent down never ask to borrow a charger because you’ll never know where it’s been retrieved from.
Surely the prison cells don’t have access to a power socket ?
It’s not the dark ages Shooters, each cell has a double socket and prisoners have the option to buy extension cables. How else are they going to watch their TVs, play their games consoles, boil their kettles and listen to their hi-fi’s?
I know prisons are fairly large but it always amazes me how they get so much contra band in there.
Me too. Also how the hell do they charge the phones they get in there?
You’d be surprised what a prisoner can fit in his colon. If you ever get sent down never ask to borrow a charger because you’ll never know where it’s been retrieved from.
Surely the prison cells don’t have access to a power socket ?
It’s not the dark ages Shooters, each cell has a double socket and prisoners have the option to buy extension cables. How else are they going to watch their TVs, play their games consoles, boil their kettles and listen to their hi-fi’s?
Hard wired sockets I would have thought but hey ho.
I know prisons are fairly large but it always amazes me how they get so much contra band in there.
Me too. Also how the hell do they charge the phones they get in there?
You’d be surprised what a prisoner can fit in his colon. If you ever get sent down never ask to borrow a charger because you’ll never know where it’s been retrieved from.
At Medway police station I believe the term used by custody staff is 'the Chatham pocket'
Yep, sounds about right though I’ve encountered individuals that have rucksacks never mind pockets.
How does a drug deal work in prison? Does a prisoner's family have to transfer money to the dealer? I dont suppose the prisoners carry too many readies
Comments
As stated in the article, the high security estate already has dedicated search teams (DST) that do nothing but try and disrupt the flow of contraband coming into our prisons. As I’m ‘lucky’ enough to work in one of the prisons that make up the high security estate I have some knowledge of how they operate and how they go about their work. This talk of ‘hit squads’ being recruited to storm into prisons is quite frankly propaganda. It already happens. A few of our lads and lasses were down at Wormword Scrubs a few months ago on an operation to clean it up a bit and hearing of some of the finds it might have helped for a bit but for the MoJ to suggest it as a new initiative is slightly misleading. How I see it is that DST groups will be rolled out to Cat B and C prisons with staff recruited from in-house rather than some MoJ bod hanging out in Hereford on the off-chance they can find a few SAS types that fancy a change of career. These officers will need specialist training which accounts for the figures quoted in my opinion.
I’ve stated before on here that I feel lucky to work in the prison that I do despite the fact we have some of the worst criminals in the system. Because we house convicted terrorists, big time gang members and drug dealers, serial killers and prolific sex offenders we are afforded reasonable numbers of officers. If I hit an alarm bell I’m fairly confident I’ll have back up arriving in moments. This isn’t the case the lower the system you go. I was talking to a couple of lads who’ve not been in the job long and they told me about a lad they trained with who was posted to a Cat C jail and was unfortunately a victim of an assault. He was escorting a prisoner who decided to have a pop and this officer was in a one on one scrap for four minutes before anyone came to his aid. That is shocking and sickening but only one incident of many where the blame can be laid squarely at the Governments door for their wilful neglect of the service over the past eight years. The reason our prisons are awash with drugs, mobiles and other contraband is because there is simply not enough staff to do the job properly, to make sure the security measures are put in place to restrict the flow.
Here’s where I’ll take exception to Lincsaddicks comment reference ‘a lot of the screws losing their nice little earners’. A lot? Seriously? I’ll admit that there are bent officers who will traffic for their own financial gain but the numbers are tiny and to suggest that their is a whole swathe of dodgy screws is insulting. The majority of officers are ordinary, working family men and women who do their job with integrity and honesty and rest assured we’re as disgusted as you Lincs when these corrupt bad apples are exposed. I know first hand as a female officer I did my training with and who I considered a friend was caught trafficking into my prison. No one will never know how let down I felt personally and I shed not one tear when she was sent down for four years and eight months.
Our prisons aren’t awash with drugs because of bent officers but because for a section of our society it’s a money maker. There are some in the system who think nothing of doing a short sentence because if they can successfully get in the spice they have shoved up their arses upon arrival they can make a fair wedge. For some, it’s a career option that’s better than working for minimum wage.
I’ve rambled but the point is if the state of our prisons and our ability to make them a place of rehabilitation instead of cesspits is to be achieved then we have to be given the appropriate financial backing to accomplish this and in all honesty I have no faith that the political or societal will to do that is there.
I could never do your job. I come out in sweats at just the thought of it.
Living up north that is....
It’s a constant battle and not one that looks like being won anytime soon.
You’d be surprised what a prisoner can fit in his colon. If you ever get sent down never ask to borrow a charger because you’ll never know where it’s been retrieved from.
It’s not the dark ages Shooters, each cell has a double socket and prisoners have the option to buy extension cables. How else are they going to watch their TVs, play their games consoles, boil their kettles and listen to their hi-fi’s?
Yep, sounds about right though I’ve encountered individuals that have rucksacks never mind pockets.