Revealed: Prisons hiring criminals and gangsters as guards
Criminals and gangsters are being hired as prison guards despite past offences, it was revealed today.
A flaw in the system has been uncovered in a report commissioned by Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis.
It shows how poor checks are allowing people with links to organised crime to be employed as officers in jails, where they then smuggle in contraband.
Express & Star comment: Prison staff criminals 'scandalous'
The Prison Service does not have full access to the Police National Database – and police forces do not have full access to Mercury, the Prison Service's database.
The lack of overlap between the systems allows organised crime gangs to put their own people into prisons as guards to deliberately smuggle in contraband, Mr Ellis's report warns today.
Mr Ellis has published a 54-page report looking into prison crime across the West Midlands, Staffordshire and Shropshire.
He said: "‘Prisons and police sharing intelligence and data is an ideal example of the simple measures that can be taken to stop organised crime in its tracks.
"I’m sure many people would be surprised that this does not already happen as a matter of course, but it doesn’t."
Mr Ellis's report reveals how illegal activity behind bars is being aided by corrupt guards and prison officials.
"It is quite possible that the number of finds of sim cards, phones and narcotics found in prisons are transported in by corrupt staff and officials, and yet, this issue gets far less attention than prisoner family/friend complicity in drug smuggling, drones and prisoner importation," Mr Ellis's report says.
The lack of communication between police forces and prisons also means criminal associates are smuggling in contraband during visiting hours.
A recent information-sharing trial at HMP Dovegate, in Staffordshire, helped to identify prison staff linked with organised crime and visitors who were trafficking drugs into the jail.
A well-known drug trafficker was visiting several inmates at the jail while a prison guard had links to organised crime and had previously been arrested for conspiracy to supply crack cocaine.
The visitor was banned and the guard dismissed.
Mr Ellis said: "The pilot at Dovegate showed how easy it should be to stop gang members ever being employed in prisons – somewhere they should never be working."
He has now called on the government to roll the pilot out to all jails across the country as part of a more joined-up approach to reducing crime in prisons.
"The value of collaborative working should not be underestimated," he said.
The prison service has said it does carry out security checks before hiring staff, adding the majority of its staff are not corrupt.
Spokeswoman Emilie Beckwith said: "The vast majority of prison staff are professional, hard-working and do not tolerate corruption.
“The prison service has a comprehensive strategy for tackling corruption and does not hesitate to take firm disciplinary action when we find evidence of it. Serious cases are referred to the police for investigation.”
