Criminal gangs are using drones to drop packages of up to 10 kilograms of drugs into prisons where the overwhelming amount of drugs is destabilising jails, a watchdog chief has warned.
A âmenu of drugsâ is available in prisons where work to rehabilitate criminals is being prevented, as many inmates are in their cells for 22 hours a day âhigh on drugs, watching daytime TVâ.
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor revealed that âfrighteningâ blades including a zombie knife were also suspected of being brought into prison by a drone, as he unveiled his annual report into prisons.
Mr Taylor previously warned that drones dropping drugs at high-security jails HMP Manchester and HMP Long Lartin was a âthreat to national securityâ, and he repeated calls on Tuesday for the threat to be taken seriously âat the highest levels of Governmentâ.
He further told reporters that a theoretical possibility of the risk of a prisoner being carried out by a drone was âconcerningâ as technology is moving fast.
The watchdog chief said: âThere is a level of risk thatâs posed by drones that I think is different from what weâve seen in the past, and both with stuff coming in and ultimately the potential for something even more serious to happen.
âWhat Iâd like to see is that the prison service really get a grip of this issue and and weâd like to see the Government, security services coming together, using technology, using intelligence, so that this risk doesnât materialise.â
The annual report highlighted concerns that criminal gangs are often using sophisticated drones to target jails and sell contraband to bored and vulnerable inmates.
Mr Taylor said that drones can smuggle in contraband more quickly and accurately than through corrupt prison staff or visits, as they can use location app what3words to deliver âdirectly to an individual cellâ.
The report detailed that 39% of respondents to prisoner surveys said it was easy to get drugs in prison, and inspectors regularly visited prisons where the recorded rate of positive random drug tests was more than 30%.
It said in many jails there were âseemingly uncontrollable levels of criminalityâ that often inexperienced staff were unable to contain.
It also found it âunsurprisingâ that national rates of violence increased last year, making the chance of rehabilitation unlikely.
Last month, the Independent Monitoring Boardâs annual report on prisons found violence remained âexcessively highâ, which was driven by overcrowding, inadequate mental health support and a surge in drug use.
Of weapons, Mr Taylor said: âI have been in prisons where they showed inspectors some pretty frightening-looking knives that have got in, which they suspect have got in as a result of drones.â
The discovery of the zombie knife was after the period covered in the annual report.
The watchdog boss said in the report: âThis is a threat that needs to be taken seriously at the highest levels of Government.
âOnly when drugs are kept out, and prisoners are involved in genuinely purposeful activity that will help them to get work and resettle successfully on release, can we expect to see prisons rehabilitate rather than just contain the men and women they hold.â
Mr Taylorâs report also found overcrowding and lack of activity caused frustration among prisoners which fuelled the demand for drugs, with many spending most of the day in cramped shared cells with broken furniture and vermin.
Overcrowding also meant there were not enough places for every prisoner to take part in work or education while in custody, but even when there were spaces available inspectors found underused workshops because of staff shortages.
Purposeful activity was the worst performing assessment category by inspectors, with 28 out of 38 adult prisons visited deemed to be âpoorâ or ânot sufficiently goodâ in this area.
The findings, reviewed from April 2024 to March 2025, come as ministers grapple with overcrowding and high-profile security incidents in jails.
The Government approved the use of protective body armour for prison staff in high security areas after four prison officers were attacked with hot oil and homemade weapons by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi at HMP Frankland in April.
Ministers have also vowed to create 14,000 new prison places by 2031 and have accepted recommendations from the independent sentencing review to curb overcrowding in the long term.
Responding to the prison watchdogâs annual report, Andrea Coomber KC, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: âThis report is a checklist for all the reasons the Government must prioritise reducing prison numbers, urgently.
âSentencing reform is essential, and sensible steps to reduce the prison population would save lives, protect staff, and help more people to move on from crime.â
Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, also said the report paints a sadly familiar picture of a prison system in deep crisis, which is not just a prison problem but a âpublic safety issueâ.
âPrisons should be places of rehabilitation, not warehouses of despair,â she said.
Responding to the report, prisons minister Lord James Timpson said ministers are improving prisons so they âcut crime, not create better criminalsâ.
âThis report shows the scale of the crisis we inherited and the unacceptable pressures faced by our hardworking staff â with prisons dangerously full, rife with drugs and violence,â he said.
âWeâre also investing ÂŁ40 million to bolster security, alongside stepping up cooperation with police to combat drones and stop the contraband which fuels violence behind barsâ.
