HMP Brixton axes day release for inmates as so many were smuggling drugs back in
DAY release prisoners have been banned from leaving a jail as so many were smuggling drugs back in.
Violence and substance abuse at South London’s HMP Brixton has dropped after the Release on Temporary Licence perk was axed, watchdogs said.
Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke hailed the “bold decision” at the category C jail. In a report he said: “I congratulate management for having the courage to take this essential step.”
Since the ban the number of lags who said it was easy to get drugs is down from 50 to 30 per cent. As a result the jail is “far more relaxed”.
Inmates who are not deemed dangerous or likely to escape are often allowed out on day release to do work, training or visit family in preparation for the end of their sentences.
But bosses at Brixton discovered that criminals were abusing the system to smuggle drugs into the jail.
‘FAR MORE RELAXED’
Mr Clarke said: “The prison was faced with the question of how to respond to very clear intelligence that prisoners released on temporary licence were being pressurised to bring drugs back into the prison, usually concealed within their body and therefore undetectable by the technology available to the establishment.
“The decision was taken to stop the use of release on temporary licence (ROTL), and the evidence shows that this clearly had a huge impact on the availability of drugs.
“My view is that this was precisely the type of bold, strategic decision that senior management needed to take when faced with a problem that was making the prison dangerous for both prisoners and staff, and therefore unable to achieve improvements in many areas of prison life.”
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As a result of the day release ban, the proportion of prisoners who said it was easy to get hold of drugs has dropped from 50 per cent to 30 per cent.
And the proportion testing positive has fallen from about 35 per cent to 15 per cent.
Mr Clarke said this had “unsurprisingly” led to a drop in violence, making the 200-year-old jail “far more relaxed”.
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