New Prisons Minister Rory Stewart vows to go 'back to basics' and repair all the broken windows in England's troubled jails to stop drug-smuggling drones
- Rory Stewart vowed to make 'windows searches and walls' at jails his top priority
- He wants to recruit Army of veterans to beef up discipline at troubled prisons
- He will stop drones smuggling in contraband ad bring in new airport-style scans
New Prisons Minister Rory Stewart has vowed to 'get back to basics' and repair all the broken windows in jails to stop drug-smuggling drones.
The former Army officer has also vowed to recruit veterans to help beef up security and discipline in England's troubled prisons.
And he will use the best of new technology to jam and block drones being used to sneak contraband in over the walls.
His vow to clean up England's jails comes just days after inmate Khader Saleh, 25, was stabbed to death at Wormwood Scrubs Prison in West London.
And jails across the country have been hit by the worst riots in a generation amid warnings they inmates are being kept in Dickensian conditions where violence and drug abuse is rife.
Speaking three weeks after being given the prisons brief in Theresa May's reshuffle, Mr Stewart said he would tackle the small things - like broken windows and picking up rubbish - to tackle the bigger issue.
New Prisons Minister Rory Stewart has vowed to 'get back to basics' and repair all the broken windows in jails to stop drug-smuggling drones (file pic)
He told The Sunday Express: 'When you have broken windows, discipline goes and violence rises.'
'In Liverpool, the prisoners have smashed all the windows. They claim it's because they want fresh air but when you get smashed windows you get drug use going up.
'There are a lot of people interested in technology, doing a lot of wonderful work on what you can do to jam a drone, to fire a light at a drone to disable its optical system.
'I'm going to start by trying to fix the windows because the drone's no good if you can't stick your hand out of the window. Really it's about getting back to basics.
'Cleanliness also means so much. You suddenly see that prison officers are more confident and prisoners have a better attitude.
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'If there's rubbish on the floor and nobody's picking it up, I'm worried because that's an indication of many other things that are going on.'
The technique is reminiscent of the 'broken windows' policing style which was introduced in New York by Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the 1990s, transforming the city.
And, borrowing a phrase from former Tory PM Sir John Major, he aid the policy amounted to a 'back to basics approach' to jails.
He insisted suggestions prisons are not run like 'holiday camps' and said he is 'very comfortable with prisons that are run in a very old-fashioned military way'.
A damning report on Liverpool prison earlier this month revealed a filthy jail with broken windows and piles of rubbish.
While numerous reports have detailed the shocking level of rug use in the UK's jails - with many inmate comatose by taking large quantities of the former legal high spice.
Mr Stewart, who was an Army officer with the Black Watch before becoming a diplomat stationed in the Balkans, said searches will be beefed up under his watch.
He said: 'I think we can do more right on the gate, on entry. If it was easy to keep drugs out of prison we wouldn't have so many drugs in prison but some prisons do better than others.
inmate Khader Saleh, 25, was stabbed to death at Wormwood Scrubs Prison in West London (file pic of jail)
'I want to learn from the high security sector. At Belmarsh they have new types of technology so I'm interested in the type of scanners which you get in an airport which can see if somebody's put drugs inside their body.
'We've got to be searching every human coming in - the prisoner, the family visitor, the staff.'
Mr Stewart, former chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, revealed his plans to recruit an Army of veteran to bring in some military-style discipline to Britain's prisons.
He said: 'I support encouraging more ex-Army personnel to join the prison service,' he said. 'I think they've got fantastic ethos and self-discipline.'
'But in order to protect the public we also have to run decent, clean prisons. We need to make sure these people are educated and as few of them as possible are reoffending.'
Denying jails are cushy, he said: 'There's nobody writing inspection reports saying prisons are holiday camps. Prisoners are locked up for most of the day.
'They can be in here for many years. I don't know anybody who finds it an easy experience.
'Winston Churchill said one of the things you judge a society on is its prisons and I think he was right.'
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