The Guardian has been granted unprecedented access to two prisons to see the impact of funding cuts. In the first of two reports,Amelia Gentleman finds broken windows and bored inmates at the UK’s most overcrowded jailTen days before Christmas, in the middle of the night, or a drone crashed on to the asphalt courtyard that separates Wandsworth prison’s A-wing and the governor’s office near the estate’s outer perimeter. A white package measuring 20cm by 10cm by 10cm had been suspended from the drone with brown tape and string. It contained mobile phones and some drugs.
As soon as you enter Wandsworth prison,you notice that dozens of windows on this side of the four-storey A-wing contain been smashed. This level of vandalism inside a prison is a bit startling, but its such a common problem that prison officers pay miniature attention to the scale of the damage until asked approximately it. Each cell window has three narrow transparent panels and most cells contain at least one broken pane; prisoners contain stuffed duvets and towels into the cavities, and patched them up with flattened milk cartons to keep out the January cold. The prison’s head of security believes that some prisoners are smashing holes in their windows in order to receive deliveries of drugs flown in by drones.
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Source: theguardian.com