A new government initiative aims to stop the threat of drones to prisons in England and Wales.

Prison service records show that a 770% increase in drone incidents around prisons between 2019 and 2023. These devices increasingly being used by organised crime groups to smuggle contraband like drugs and phones into jails. According to inspectors’ prisoner surveys, 39% of prisoners found it easy to acquire drugs.   

Lord Timpson, Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, said the government is ‘investing heavily in physical security and cutting-edge technology,’ to detect drones designed by criminals to evade current detection methods available on the market. Successful applicants will receive £60,000 in funding to develop proof-of concept systems over a 12-week period.   

He added that the government is investing £40 million to bolster prison security, including £10 million on anti-drone measures such as exterior netting and reinforced windows.  The Justice Gap has previously reported the prison and police service had effectively ‘ceded the airspace’ above two high security prisons to organise crime gangs delivering contraband by drones.  

The Commons justice select committee said earlier this year that the safety and security of prisons is being ‘critically undermined by the scale of the trade and use of illicit drugs.’  

 Andy Slaughter, Labour chair of the cross-party committee, said organised criminal gangs were profiting from the prison drug trade, warning that the rise of sophisticated drone technology had made the problem worse to control.    

The committee has recommended installing Sky Fence system, across every Category A prison. The system will detect and activate a series of ‘disruptors’ to block the drone’s control signals when it approaches.