A damning new report on a Kent prison says the use of drones to deliver drugs to inmates has become a “major problem”.

An inspection at HMP Swaleside on Sheppey, which holds men convicted of serious offences and those who pose a high risk to the public, found the prison is “not safe enough”.

In December last year, inspectors labelled the site as “struggling” following a “concerning” inspection.

In the latest report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons, published today, it says self-harm and violence at the prison increased since September last year, with serious assaults, particularly on staff, continuing to be a cause for concern.

The inspection, which took place between August 12 and August 14, found the use of drones to deliver drugs and other illicit items had become a major problem during the last year.

The report states: “All evidence showed an increase in drug use by prisoners.

“The impact of this had clearly limited the degree of progress made in almost all the concerns we reviewed at this visit.”

This was demonstrated by the higher positive drug testing rate – the average rate was around 32% over the last year but this June it had peaked at more than 56%.

Leaders were working closely with the police and other agencies to tackle the drone problem which had resulted in some arrests.

However, without significant investment, tackling the use of drones would remain an “impossible task”.

As well as this, the inspector added: “Leadership of the prison had changed substantially in the last few months and was now fragile as the governor and deputy were both in post temporarily and were relatively new to these significant leadership roles.”

Despite this, the concerns of the inspectors were “taken seriously”.

In its previous inspection, it was noted that 14 prisoners had died at Swaleside within the space of two years, including seven whose deaths were self-inflicted.

In the last 11 months there has been an increase, with one death in June suspected to have been suicide.

Now, the prison has increased the size of its safety team which supports prisoners.

However, the care for men in crisis was undermined by a “variety of problems” such as prisoners’ frustration with very basic aspects of daily life, the rate of violence and the easy availability of drugs.

The report states: “There was compelling evidence that staff did not always complete the required checks on prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm and we were not confident that records we examined were accurate.

'There was compelling evidence that staff did not always complete the required checks on prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm...'

“Some of the care plans in the ACCT documentation (assessment, care in custody and teamwork case management of prisoners at risk of suicide or self-harm) were months out of date and did not reflect the prisoners’ current needs.

“None of the plans focused on getting men into activity and sometimes the support was repeatedly stopped and restarted without addressing the underlying issues.”

High rates of violence at the prison had increased further since its previous inspection and around a fifth of incidents were serious in nature.

'Leaders and managers made little progress in improving attendance rates at education, skills and work...'

Many incidents involved multiple perpetrators and weapons and some had resulted in minor injuries.

Investigations into violent incidents were also often delayed and of poor quality. As a result, the prison has been described as “not safe enough”.

Despite more officers having been hired, many staff still lacked confidence in their management of prisoners.

At the time of this visit, just over half the officer group had less than a year in service.

Supervising officers did not provide sufficient visible support on many wings.

Ofsted inspectors found that leaders and managers made little progress in improving attendance rates at education, skills and work and in ensuring prisoners developed positive attitudes towards education and work.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The new government inherited a justice system in crisis and has been forced to take action across the prison estate, so we can continue to lock up dangerous offenders, protect the public and make prisons safer for hard-working staff.

"We have a zero-tolerance approach to drugs and our security measures, such as X-ray body scanners and anti-drone no-fly zones, stop drugs and mobile phones from entering our prisons.”