HMP Garth prisoners burning windows for drone deliveries ‘quicker than they can be fixed’

Leyland’s HMP Garth has been described as being overrun with drug deliveries and unmanaged behaviour problems in a damning inspectors report.

The prison’s crumbling buildings along with inexperienced, poorly trained and inadequately staff guards were also among the problems identified. Worryingly, a host of problems identified in an inspection two years ago also remained unaddressed when inspectors visited in August.

According to one prisoner, the prevalence of drones delivering drugs through cell windows that he said the facility was “now an airport”.

Meanwhile, the inspector noted: “Prisoners were continually burning holes in the prison windows at a faster rate than they could be repaired. On the first day of inspection, 13 cells had windows with holes, five still occupied by prisoners.”

A survey of prisoners found almost two-thirds of prisoners said that drugs were easy to get compared with 44% at the previous inspection and 41% at similar prisons. Inspectors found that the smell of drugs was evident throughout, while the impact could “be seen in the increasing levels of violence, the full segregation unit and the large number of prisoners who wanted protection from their peers because they were in debt.”

Routine drug testing in the last year showed that a third of prisoners were misusing substances. But it’s not just drugs that proved to be an issue. Assaults among prisoners had increased by 44% since the last visit, staff sickness levels were high and guards felt unsupported by management and had not had sufficient training.

Holes burned in windows to allow drone deliveries

Both prisoners and staff spoke negatively about the setting of behavioural standards within the facility and neither group saw much hope of it improving. Serious breaches of prison rules, including criminal offences such as violence or possession of drugs, were not dealt with effectively and the adjudication system was in “disarray”.

It was also found there were “very few consequences for prisoners who chose not to behave which was a critical weakness in a prison battling a substantial drug problem and the associated debt and violence”

The effects of insufficient staffing levels could be seen in an inability to control behaviour and the failure to enable inmates to attend medical appointments and education lessons.

Identifying poor processing of new inmates, the inspection observed one person being brought in discussing feeling suicidal. This was not followed up in any way and when inspectors returned the following afternoon, he had not left his cell or been allowed a phone call.

In a summary of his report, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor wrote: “The governor had been without a substantive deputy for some and although he had a good understanding of the many challenges the prison faced, without better support from the regional team and the prison service Garth will continue to be a jail of real concern. Staff attendance and capability will need to improve significantly and without substantial investment from the prison service, drugs will continue to flow into this troubled jail.”

At the time of inspection, the prison was home to 810 inmates, above the ‘baseline normal capacity’ but within the operational capacity of 845. Of those, 96% were assessed as high or very high risk of harm and 86% were serving sentences of 10 or more years.

The prison itself was littered with broken and dirty furniture, equipment and infrastructure, with even the ceilings falling apart. While doubts were raised over the capital needed to fix these, prison leaders now face pressure to fix the many concerns raised.

That would represent a significant change compared to the response to the last inspection, when 16 concerns were raised. Of those, just four had been addressed since then.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The new government inherited a prison system in crisis and reports like these demonstrate the need for robust action to get the situation back under control.

“We have zero tolerance towards violence and drugs and our security measures, such as X-ray body scanners and anti-drone no-fly zones, detect and stop drugs from entering our prisons.”

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