Oakwood Prison inmates facing 40 hours of work and drug crackdown

John McLaughlin, director of the £150million HMP Oakwood, near Wolverhampton, says the work will prepare them for the outside world.

At present, inmates who volunteer for work do a maximum of 37 hours.

But Mr McLaughlin says in future they will be forced to do a full 40 hours or miss out on wages. Work on offer includes breaking down circuit breakers to recycle parts or carpentry.

They would then be encouraged to use the prison gym – at the end of their shift.

Creating a drug-free prison may be like 'pushing a boulder uphill' but Mr McLaughlin is determined it can be achieved.

Revealing today how prisoners fashioned their own fishing rods to 'catch' bags of drugs being thrown over Oakwood's walls into its exercise yards, Mr McLaughlin declared a zero-tolerance on drug abuse.

He has declared a war on drugs – and his battle plan has included installing a wall between cell blocks and exercise yards to block off criminals' fishing prospects.

Mr McLaughlin said inmates had been setting off fire alarms, which prompt top floor windows on cell blocks to open.

Then they have been casting home-made lines out of the gaps to pick up bags of drugs which have been covered with fish hooks by people supplying them.

That was before he took over the titan jail.

He has revealed he has now introduced a raft of CCTV cameras and extra security around the perimeter of the G4S-run prison to reduce drug throwovers.

In a bid to rid the prison of drugs, Mr McLaughlin also plans to weight privileges earned by well-behaved inmates so those who stay clear of drugs earn more rewards, such as family-friendly visiting days, or access to computer games consoles.

Mr McLaughlin has told of his ambitions to improve the prison, after its performance was found to be 'of serious concern', in ratings published by the Ministry of Justice earlier this week.

The prison in Featherstone, near Wolverhampton, was one of just three of 134 in the country to receive the unwanted grading.

Mr McLaughlin said: "I want it to be a drug-free prison. I know that's like pushing a boulder uphill but I will always keep trying.

"The number of throwovers have been reduced. It's very difficult to stop drugs coming in, but I've got a zero tolerance approach to drug abuse. Having a drug-free prison is achievable."

He also revealed a pioneering system of in-cell telephones had cut out a black market for mobile phones which exists in prisons up and down the UK, and in which a pay-as-you-go handset can sell for as much as £600, leaving a hierarchy fuelled by debts owed among inmates.

In March last year the Crime and Security Act was passed which stated that prisoners risked extra time being tagged onto their sentences if they were caught with a mobile phones. It aimed to cut down on prisoners keeping in touch with their criminal contacts while inside.

The issue is so rife however that, in the first six months since the new law came in, there were still 109 prisoners found with phones at HMP Birmingham, 38 convicts had phones at HMP Featherstone and two at HMP Oakwood. A further five were found at Brinsford Young Offenders Institution. Five inmates had phones in HMP Stafford while none were found at HMP Shrewsbury. The revelation of the success of the in-cell telephone system at HMP Oakwood comes in the wake of the announcement the same system could be installed in HMP Birmingham, another G4S-run jail in Winson Green.

No prisoners have lost the privilege to make calls on the phones at HMP Oakwood, with which they can only contact a list of approved numbers and are occasionally monitored to ensure no attempt is made to pursue criminal activity.

Mr McLaughlin also said none of the sets were vandalised.

The ability for inmates to keep in contact with family, especially in times of crisis for them on the outside, helps them further to retain a sense of normality which helps them transition to life after their sentence ends, Mr McLaughlin said.

He added: "People respond to being trusted, There is no abuse of the sets because they are so important to them.

"This normalises their lives and they respect their property." HMP Oakwood's rating released earlier this week was partly based on the findings of an unannounced inspection of the jail in June.

Mr McLaughlin was then warned about the prison's performance in two areas – education and healthcare delivery for inmates.

The director said a Government-mandated switch in education services – as private firm G4S does not commission that service for the jail – had 'not helped matters'.

He said that less than half as many prisoners were able to take advantage of Offender Learning and Skills Services after changes, which had meant he needed to find alternative pursuits for 450 prisoners.

He said: "That wasn't helpful."

He added that healthcare was also commissioned under a separate contract with National Health England, but he expected improvements would have bedded down by the next visit of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons.

G4S also said it had confidence in Mr McLaughlin to achieve high standards at HMP Oakwood.

Spokeswoman Nicola Savage added: "We have been running prisons in the UK for 21 years, and until recently were operating six prisons – of which three are rated Level 3, and one, HMP & YOI Parc, is rated at Level 4. We believe the score for Oakwood does not reflect much of the excellent work being done by our team at the prison, nor does it reflect the prison's excellent safety record, with no serious incidents having taken place since its opening.

"With a new, experienced director at the helm, in the shape of John Mclaughlin – recently of HMP Altcourse, which achieved a PRS score of 3 – we are completely confident that Oakwood will go from strength to strength."