Terrified officers reveal how prisoners run UK’s ‘cushiest’ jail with booze fuelled raves & arsenal of homemade weapons
TERRIFIED officers have revealed how prisoners run the UK’s “cushiest” jail – with booze-fuelled raves and an arsenal of homemade weapons.
Staff at HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire said getting assaulted by lags is a “daily event”.
The £253million “smart prison” boasts a gym, table tennis and snooker tables, and tablets for inmates.
But guards said that drugs and knives have been smuggled into the 1,700-man prison – and that it is a matter of time before one of them gets killed.
One officer told Sky News: “The prisoners run the prison. If things don’t change someone is going to get killed.”
He added that guards often lack radios or working bodycams – and that the inmates can always tell.
The guard claimed that another prison officer was stabbed in the head with a metal spike.
A female officer said: “We get urine and faeces thrown in our face. We get spat at.
“We get things thrown at us. An officer got stabbed a few weeks ago.
“We get punched, kicked, tripped up, hit with pool cues.”
But G4S said no officer has ever been stabbed at the prison – at that the officer in question only suffered superficial injuries.
YOU’RE BARRED
Prisoners have reportedly used smuggled phones to post snaps of booze and drug-fuelled raves in their cells.
One clip shared from inside appears to show inmates distilling their own alcohol.
Other videos show a prisoner standing on a roof, a fight in a cell – and roaming inmates directing sexual taunts to a lone female prison officers.
The female guard said that it is common for one woman officer to be alone with 60 men on a landing.
Another officer claimed that too many inmates have been given bands which let them move between blocks – helping them to shift drugs.
Two guards said that there are more illegal drugs in the drug rehab area than in any other part of the prison.
All the whistleblowers interviewed by Sky said that there are corrupt staff in the prison service who help smuggle drugs and other contraband.
One said that some guards have even been placed in their roles by prisoners.
G4S said: “The safety of staff and prisoners is our number one priority, and we do not tolerate violence.
“We have sufficient levels of staffing to run a stable, consistent and safe regime.
“HMP Five Wells staff are proud of the good work that has been carried out since opening to support and develop employees and to help prisoners turn their lives around.
“We know there is more to be done and continue to take steps to improve the regime every day.
“Our dedicated officers work tirelessly to detect, intercept and confiscate contraband through a range of measures.”