Last month I worked undercover at HMP Bedford, one of the most dangerous jails in the country. I was hired by an agency without thorough checks - they didn’t even Google my name! - and then I was able to walk inside and interact with prisoners without security searches.
On two out of eight days that I worked at the prison, there was no one manning the security scanners at the front entrance when I arrived for work. This allowed me and several others to walk inside the jail and through to prisoner wings without even the most basic searches.
Even when there were staff on security, they often said they'd not been trained to use scanners. I was repeatedly able to enter the jail without having my belongings scanned for drugs and weapons. My role involved wearing uniform and having keys to prisoner wings.
@pmorganbentley How else do you expect the screws to be able to smuggle contraband in? Would be a lot more difficult if security was up to scratch
@pmorganbentley Every time I was security scanned (machine) I was 1-2-1 with an officer in the room The whole thing is open to abuse. I've been banged up with someone scanned, who shit out a package one night and spent a while enjoying the fruits of..
@pmorganbentley This is both really important work and brave, Pauly. Well done.