Drones flying into jails in England and Wales are national security threat, says prisons watchdog
Drones have become a “threat to national security”, the prisons watchdog has said, after a surge in the amount of weapons and drugs flown into high-security jails,Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, called for urgent action from Whitehall and the police after inquiries found that terrorism suspects and criminal gangs could escape or attack guards because safety had been “seriously compromised”,His demands follow inspections at two category A prisons holding some of England and Wales’s most dangerous inmates,HMP Manchester and HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire had thriving illicit economies selling drugs, mobile phones and weapons, and basic anti-drone security measures such as protective netting and CCTV had been allowed to fall into disrepair, inspectors found,In a report released on Tuesday, Taylor said the police and prison service had “in effect ceded the airspace above two high-security prisons to organised crime gangs” despite knowing they were holding “extremely dangerous prisoners”.
He said: “The safety of staff, prisoners and ultimately that of the public is seriously compromised by the failure to tackle what has become a threat to national security,The Prison Service, the police and other security services must urgently confront organised gang activity and reduce the supply of drugs and other illicit items which so clearly undermine every aspect of prison life,”At Long Lartin inspectors found that “large payloads of illicit items” were being delivered, driving violence over drug debts and contributing to “low morale” among staff,Prisoners held at the jail have included Vincent Tabak, who kidnapped and murdered Joanna Yeates,; the murderer Jeremy Bamber; and the terrorist preacher Abu Hamza,Taylor issued an urgent notification at HMP Manchester, once known as Strangeways, after finding that prisoners were burning holes in supposedly secure windows so they could continue to receive regular deliveries by drone.
“Some of these had increasingly large payloads, which had the potential to lead to serious disruption and potential escape,” the report said.Contractors who fixed windows faced threats from inmates, it said.Inspectors labelled the prison, which holds 30 category A prisoners, as “the most violent” in England and Wales.Sophisticated drones, worth several thousand pounds and about a metre wide, are equipped with thermal imaging equipment and can carry up to 7kg of illicit goods under the cover of darkness.Some prisons have introduced counter-drone technology to detect when unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are nearby, but few, if any, are thought to actively block the devices from approaching.
In November, Taylor told the Guardian drones were his “No 1 concern” amid concerns from staff that it was “a matter of time” before guns were flown into prisons.A recent report by Taylor’s inspectors into HMP Garth, near Leyland in Lancashire, said so many drones were being flown to the prison at night to deliver contraband to cell windows that an inmate compared it to “an airport”.In a further development, the probation watchdog has expressed concern that new officers dealing with a surge of early release prisoners are finding the pressure “overwhelming and counterproductive”.Martin Jones, the chief inspector of probation, said one in 10 probation officers left the service last year and many staff struggled with high workloads and stress.It follows the government’s decision to release more than 2,000 prisoners under the SDS40 scheme since July to ease overcrowding in prisons.
“The current pressures on new staff are overwhelming and counterproductive to building a fully staffed, experienced probation service in the long term,” Jones said in a report released on Tuesday,A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “This government inherited prisons in crisis - overcrowded, with drugs and violence rife,“We are gripping the situation by investing in prison maintenance and security, working with the police and others to tackle serious organised crime, and building more prison places to lock up dangerous criminals,”
How to politicize the truth on Facebook, Instagram, and Wikipedia
Hello, and welcome back to TechScape. Last Tuesday, I predicted Meta would enter a new political era after the departure of Nick Clegg. Two hours after I published last week’s newsletter, Mark Zuckerberg declared that the new conservative phase would begin. It was sooner and more brazen than I had expected – and faster-paced. Zuckerberg announced he would disband Meta’s US fact-checking operation because he believes his fact-checkers have been too politically biased
Google investigated by UK watchdog over search dominance
Google is being investigated by the UK competition watchdog over the impact of its search and advertising practices on consumers, news publishers, businesses and rival search engines.The tech company accounts for more than 90% of general searches in the UK, according to the Competition and Markets Authority.The CMA estimates that search advertising costs the equivalent of nearly £500 for each UK household a year, which could be kept down with effective competition.The watchdog announced on Tuesday it will investigate if Google is blocking competitors from entering the market, and whether it is engaging in “potential exploitative conduct” by the mass collection of consumers’ data without informed consent.It will also investigate whether Google is using its position as the pre-eminent search engine to give an unfair advantage to its own shopping and travel services
Amazon makes ‘largest ever’ UK order of electric trucks to cut carbon emissions
Amazon is to deploy nearly 150 electric heavy goods vehicles as well as piling packages on to trains and post-style trolleys in an effort to reduce the carbon footprint of delivering goods in the UK.The tech company said it had bought more than 140 electric Mercedes-Benz heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and eight Volvo lorries – which it says is the UK’s biggest order of electric trucks – that can take loads of up to 40 tonnes.The vehicles will hit the road over the next 18 months, increasing the online retailer’s electric HGV fleet from nine at present.The US-owned company’s switch to electric logistics is partly funded by the government under its zero emission HGV and infrastructure demonstrator programme (ZEHID). Amazon plans to install fast-charging points across its UK network to keep the trucks in action
Ministers consider ban on all UK public bodies making ransomware payments
Schools, the NHS and local councils will be banned from making ransomware payments under government proposals to tackle hackers.In a crackdown on such cyber-attacks, operators of critical national infrastructure will be barred from bowing to demands when criminal gangs hold IT systems hostage.Payouts by private companies will have to be reported to the government and could be blocked if they are made to sanctioned groups or foreign states. Reporting ransomware attacks will also be made mandatory if the proposals become law.The plans, described by one expert as “the most significant intervention against ransomware by any national government to date”, will bring other public bodies into line with government departments, which are already banned from making payments
Meta’s ditching of factcheckers is potentially dangerous and a disservice | Letters
Meta’s move to scrap factcheckers is not about “complexity”, as it says (Report, 8 January), but to support Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s agenda.It is widely agreed that effective, fast and unbiased factchecking is essential for the proper functioning of social media platforms. Similarly, principles of free speech are foundational to fostering communication and public debate in a healthy democratic society. Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that Meta is to follow X in introducing user-generated notes raises serious concerns.The shift will intensify pressures on vulnerable groups, including children, minorities, gender rights advocates and LGBTQ+ communities, who are already targeted by hate speech
Water shortage fears as Labour’s first AI growth zone sited close to new reservoir
Labour’s first artificial intelligence growth zone will be sited close to the UK’s first new reservoir in 30 years, sparking fears that the AI push will add to the “severe pressure” on water supplies in the area.Keir Starmer announced on Monday that he would hugely increase artificial intelligence capacity and reduce planning restrictions on companies that wanted to build datacentres by setting up “growth zones” with fewer constraints.The first of these will be in Culham, Oxfordshire, only seven miles from a reservoir planned by Thames Water in Abingdon, which was supposed to provide water to people in the severely water-stressed south-east of England. This is the area of the country most at risk of running out of water, according to the Environment Agency. Oxfordshire has faced particular issues, with areas reliant on bottled water during heatwaves
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