Drug dealers' jail break-ins

People are breaking into jails to sell drugs and mobile phones to inmates, and prisoners are not trying to escape because life is too "cushy", a senior prison officers' representative claimed today.Glyn Travis, assistant general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association, claimed prostitutes also entered open jails to visit inmates and admitted there were "no-go areas" in some institutions.

He said prisoners there had "complete control".

But today the man in charge of monitoring Shropshire's main prison said there was no problem there.

Bryan Foulkes, chairman of the independent monitoring board for HMP Shrewsbury, said: "You only have to look at annual records and audits to see that you don't have that sort of problem in Shrewsbury.

"As for it being cushy, that is a question of people's perceptions. Prison is prison whatever way you look at it and when that door slams you lose all control over anything on the outside."

His comments came after Mr Travis gave a radio interview in which he denied his claim was an attempt to put political pressure on the Government to increase staffing levels, which the union says are dangerously low because of under-funding.

Asked on the programme if it was the case that "prison officers are not in control of our prisons, prisoners can do pretty much what they like - including escape - but they don't want to escape because life is so cushy", Mr Travis replied: "Unfortunately, you have summed that up pretty much well accurately."

He added: "We have got no-go areas in certain prisons because prisoners have got complete control. There is not sufficient staff, there is no interaction between staff."

Mr Travis cited a security breach at the low-security category C Everthorpe Prison near Brough in East Yorkshire, where ladders were used to scale the fence and deliver drugs and phones to inmates.

"These were prisoners who have a history of escaping from lawful custody, and the prisoners did not take the opportunity or plan to escape because, we believe, life is so cushy in the prison system," he said.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman defended the conditions in prisons, saying "harsh" regimes would not lead to a reduction in reoffending.

By John Kirk