The Ministry of Justice is proposing to fit thousands of prison cell windows across England and Wales with steel grilles to combat smuggling contraband – drugs, weapons and mobile phones – by drones. Prisoners will make many of the grilles, the Government added.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, who’s also the Justice Secretary, said: “Drone smuggling fuels violence, debt and disorder in our prisons. It wrecks rehabilitation and puts lives at risk. This new investment will further bolster prison defences against drones, building on our work with police to catch and prosecute the criminal gangs responsible. To the criminal gangs using drones to target our prisons, my message is clear: we are shutting down your routes, disrupting your operations and bringing offenders to justice.”
Reaction: POA
The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) complained that what the Government announced fell far short of what’s needed. POA National Chair Mark Fairhurst said: “Our members have been warning about the dangers posed by drones for a very long time. Physical security such as netting and window cages may help in isolated areas, but they do not address the scale or sophistication of the threat. This is a national problem that requires a national solution.” The union complains more generally of a crisis in the UK prison system.
Inspections
Official inspections shed some light on the scale and breadth of the problem of drone use. The recent report into Long Lartin jail noted spending on anti-drone wires and temporary closing of a wing as ‘vulnerable to drone incursions’. There window grilles were being installed ‘to further reduce opportunities for prisoners to pass or receive illicit items’, inspectors reported. At a previous inspection in 2024, one of the concern raised had been ‘large quantities of drugs and other illicit items were entering the prison, especially on drones’.
As for the inspection of HMP Woodhill, a category B training prison in Buckinghamshire, inspectors similarly noted window grilles and anti-drone wires. Physical security against contraband should be about more than countering drones, however, and inspectors noted ‘staff searching was not frequent enough and operational staff were not routinely searched at the gate’. Overall, the prison was seeing ‘persistently high levels of violence, self-harm and drug misuse’, and drugs readily available. Hence chief inspection of prisons invoked an urgent notification (UN) process, writing to David Lammy to that effect in March.
At an inspection of Stoke Heath prison in Shropshire, inspectors found ‘gate security was weak, which increased the risk of illicit items entering the prison’. At HMP Bullingdon in Oxfordshire, a previous inspection in 2025 had concluded that ‘weaknesses in physical security allowed large quantities of illicit drugs to be delivered by drones. The availability of drugs was driving an increase in violence.’ An inspection of April 2026 bluntly reported: “The weaknesses in physical security that were identified at the last inspection had not been addressed, and no remedial work had started.” At HMP Winchester, similarly inspectors noted physical security weaknesses, ‘particularly concerning gaps in closed-circuit television camera coverage. Drones and throw-overs [people at liberty throwing contraband over walls into the jail] were frequently used routes for ingress for illicit items, including drugs and telephones. Replacement of window grilles on one wing, which had been identified as a hotspot, had been completed’.
NPCC welcome
National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Countering the Threat from Drones in Prisons, Steff Sharp welcomed the spend, saying it aligns with polic’s continued pursuit of those using drones to smuggle weapons, drugs, phones and other contraband into prisons. She said: “These items fuel organised crime, impact local communities and increase the risk of violence towards staff and inmates within prison walls. Counter drone activity is complex which is why we are committed to working closely with HMPPS and other partners to make sure this criminality is prevented, intercepted and offenders brought to justice.”
Photo by Mark Rowe: sign prohibiting drones at Bristol prison perimeter wall.
