Thread by @pmorganbentley

Last month I worked undercover at HMP Bedford, one of the most dangerous jails in the country.

I was hired by an agency without thorough checks - they didn’t even Google my name! - and then I was able to walk inside and interact with prisoners without security searches.

On two out of eight days that I worked at the prison, there was no one manning the security scanners at the front entrance when I arrived for work.

This allowed me and several others to walk inside the jail and through to prisoner wings without even the most basic searches.

Even when there were staff on security, they often said they'd not been trained to use scanners. I was repeatedly able to enter the jail without having my belongings scanned for drugs and weapons.

My role involved wearing uniform and having keys to prisoner wings.

Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, has now ordered an investigation into prison contractor vetting, seeking “urgent clarification” on whether the processes used are appropriate.

The Ministry of Justice said all jail staff and visitors were “regularly and randomly searched” - but that it was reviewing staffing to ensure that anyone manning the jail's security scanners was “adequately trained”.

Prisons nationwide are in crisis, with many unable to recruit or retain enough officers to cope with rising numbers of inmates. Figures suggest almost all jails across England and Wales are already either full or close to capacity, with fewer than 500 places left in men’s jails.

The full investigation and video report is online now @thetimes

Read the full findings here 👇
thetimes.co.uk/article/underc…