A high-security prison’s effort to tackle its serious drone problem is being frustrated by heritage concerns over installing grilles on its Victorian windows.
HMP Manchester, a Grade II listed building, wants to make it harder for drones to deliver drugs by fitting cell windows with ‘impenetrable’ security barriers.
Charlie Taylor, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, previously told how governors had ‘ceded the airspace’ over the jail to ‘organised crime gangs’.
A previous inspection found prisoners at HMP Manchester, also known as Strangeways, had been using filaments from their kettles to burn through plastic windows to facilitate drone deliveries.
However, attempts to install new security grilles have seemingly become bogged down by heritage concerns relating to the 158-year-old listed building.
Manchester city council is yet to grant planning permission for the grilles despite warnings that the prison’s drone problem represents a ‘threat to national security’.
Tom Wheatley, president of the Prison Governors’ Association (PGA), suggested there was a ‘balance to be struck’ between maintaining a historic building and running a high-security prison.
‘The [heritage concerns] have no doubt further added to the complexity of doing some of these measures,’ he told the Telegraph. ‘But the bottom line from a PGA point of view is that this hasn’t been quick enough.’
A prison source was quoted as criticising the MOJ’s ‘stifling bureaucratic procurement processes’ and a failure to drive through planning permissions for fuelling HMP Manchester’s drug problem.
The latest unannounced inspection at the jail in October 2024 found 39 per cent of prisoners tested positive in mandatory drug tests.
While the situation is said to have improved, there is said to be deep frustration at the length of time taken to fit the new security features.
Manchester city council said planning permission had been granted for new secure windows but consent for the accompanying security grills was still being considered.
A spokesman said: ‘It would be inappropriate to comment on the live application while it is going through a legal process. However, given the building is listed, the process will always include comment from a heritage perspective.’
The use of drones has soared in recent years with HMP Manchester recording at least 220 occasions in just 12 months – the highest figure across prisons in England and Wales.
Gangs typically work in teams of two and use sophisticated remote-controlled devices, which can be bought for anything from a few hundred to tens of thousands of pounds, to fly in contraband such as phones, drugs and even takeaways.
Sources have told the Daily Mail that drone drops can be completed in as little as 20 seconds carrying packages which can weigh as much as 7kg.
Gangs operating from within the prison walls often pay ‘gun-for-hire’ drone operators on the outside tens of thousands of pounds for deliveries with such ease it has been compared to ordering a package from Amazon.
Last year, Greater Manchester Police said more than 500 mobile phones – mostly iPhones – and SIM cards were seized from inmates at HMP Manchester.
Detective Sergeant Carla Dalton said phones behind bars are ‘used to arrange drug deals, weapon drops and even plan violent attacks.’
An MoJ spokesman said. ‘This Government inherited a prison system in crisis with drone incidents rising by over 770 per cent between 2019 and 2023.
‘That is why we are investing £40m in new security measures to clamp down on the contraband that fuels violence behind bars – including £10m on anti-drone measures such as window replacements, external window grilles and specialist netting.’
