PRISONS must create a virtual forcefield to jam drones before firearms or explosives are flown to inmates as easily as “Amazon Prime”, a senior Tory warns.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick says jails have been plunged into a “national security crisis” due to lax security measures.
Drones are typically flying in drugs and phones into inmates cells but warnings call for an urgent air defence system to be set up.
Ministers have revealed that one sophisticated drone recovered at HMP Wandsworth was worth £6,000 and had an extended flight time of 40 minutes.
Mr Jenrick travelled to Antibes, southern France , to see the technology being rolled out with the system already being used at the country’s military sites.
Figures show that drones were spotted four times a day over the past 12 months which was up a staggering 43 per cent on the year before.
The drones that fly in drugs and phones are used by inmates to be resold for thousands of pounds.
Mr Jenrick said: “Our prisons are under siege from drones. Category A inmates like terrorists and murderers are now able to order whatever they want to their cell window.
“These drones effectively provide an Amazon Prime service for the country’s most dangerous criminals. It makes a mockery of punishment and it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
“The government has lost control and it’s now only a matter of time before a gun or explosives are flown in and someone is killed. This is a national security crisis.
“The air-defence tech is already being used elsewhere to destroy drones. The Justice Secretary needs to stop faffing about and roll it out immediately.”
Ministers last month said they had ploughed £40 million into prison security this year including exterior netting and reinforced windows.
Prison bosses want to reduce contraband to also help reduce violence. There were 20,570 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults and 10,568 assaults on staff in the year to March.
