The number of illegal drone incursions into prisons in England and Wales is soaring amid warnings it has “never been easier” to get drugs and banned items inside.
Data examined by this programme shows reported incidents involving drones have risen by more than 1,000% in the last five years.
The cargo they carry: drugs, phones and even allegedly weapons. The impact: violence, chaos and more crime – on a system meant to deliver rehabilitation.
A prison service source confirmed to us that in one recent incident a drone crashed and intelligence was received that weapons had got inside the jail. Lockdown cell searches discovered a spent shotgun cartridge and sketches of a gun. The Ministry of Justice say they have no record of this.
And after another drone sighting, we understand, prisoners barricaded the cell so staff couldn’t get in to retrieve the package.
Now the Prison Governors’ Association is warning that organised crime gangs controlling the drones are out-running the authorities.
‘It’s never been easier to get drugs into prison’
Andy Laidlaw has quit a job he loved. He was deputy governor at HMP Garth in Lancashire. But he left in June last year because he felt he could no longer work to rehabilitate prisoners amid the perfect storm of issues battering the system.
Resources were tight, there were not enough staff and many officers lacked vital experience. And then there were the drones.
“Drugs and other illicit items in prisons, it’s never been easier to get them in, and it means organised crime are making hay. It makes it incredibly difficult when drugs are freely available – and because of the drones they are freely available.”
Andy Laidlaw
Andy said it has always been like cat and mouse trying to keep up with organised crime’s activities inside prison but, on the whole, managers like him could keep a lid on things. But drones make that harder and harder, with some prisons seeing drone drops every day.
“It’s a bit chilling because you can see the drone and its cargo,” he said.
“You don’t know where it’s going and you don’t know how to stop it. So you’re literally just trying to see which side it goes.”
In January 2024, 400-metre Drone Restricted Fly Zones were introduced around all closed prisons and young offender institutions in England and Wales, making it an offence to pilot a drone in the restricted areas without authorisation.
Andy said a drone can be flown to one area of a prison as a decoy. Staff go running in that direction – and then another one is flown in while no one is looking.
Channel 4 News has examined Ministry of Justice data on drone incidents in prisons in England and Wales going back to 2021 when there were 138 in the year to March. That figure has shot up to 1,712 in 2025 – an increase of more than 1,000%.
And the lack of resources combined with the dangers posed by organised crime means, Andy said, the safety of prisoners and staff becomes an almost daily worry.
He said: “When you literally can’t keep people safe, that’s quite a heavy burden to drive home with.”
“When you literally can’t keep people safe, that’s quite a heavy burden to drive home with.”
– Andy Laidlaw
The bottom line, he warned, was that spending money on prisons wasn’t a vote-winner.
Successive governments have been aware of the problems “but it’s almost like they listen and then cross their fingers”. It will take two to five years to make a meaningful difference to the staffing crisis, he said.
Andy added: “People don’t realise that communities would be safer, better places to live if the people put in prison came out and they were able to become stable citizens and contribute to society rather than creating victims.”
‘Gang culture is growing in jails’
Chris Buckland is a recovering drug user who said he committed crime to support his addiction. He now volunteers with the rehabilitation charity Forward Trust.
“The gang culture is just growing and growing and growing, which in turn is causing more violence,” he told Channel 4 News.
He has had two periods in prison – a decade apart.
Chris Buckland
By the second spell, he said criminal gangs had intensified their grip on life inside – offering a menu of illegal items. Everything from phones to drugs like spice, to whoever could pay.
“5, 10, 15 quid worth of spice. Ring up telephone banking, transfer X amount of money into the dealer’s account or their friend’s or their family’s account. As soon as they get the message ‘has that money gone into the account?’ ‘Yes it has.’ The spice would just come under the door. Like a Deliveroo system inside a prison.”
“The spice would just come under the door. Like a Deliveroo system inside a prison.”
– Chris Buckland
Chris said the gangs were determined to continue operating their market inside jails because it’s so lucrative – and they recruit prisoners to take drones through their windows any way they can.
“If these gangs get hold of someone who is potentially vulnerable, they will squeeze and squeeze and squeeze,” he said.
“You have to do this for me or we’ll stab you, we’ll beat you, we’ll kill you, the threats are endless. They can get hold of their family, their loved ones, Facebook, Tik-Tok social media – they’ll use that.”
Chris now creates videos documenting his recovery journey to encourage others.
‘Lethal’ 3D-printed machetes among items
Brenda’s son Ian is serving time in one of the UK’s high security prisons. We’ve changed their names to protect him.
One day he called her.
“He said: ‘Mum, you should have seen it last night…I was looking out the window and it was like Blackpool. All the lights’.”
But there’s a dark side to the night-time light show.
She told us: “It’s the drones. Drones coming into the prisons. It’s how they get all the goods in, all the drugs, the phones and he said you name it, you can get anything you want in this prison. Iphones, chargers, sim cards, 3D-printed machetes, they’re plastic but they’re lethal. He said it’s ruthless.”
Drones are a crucial tool used by the criminal gangs running swathes of the country’s prisons. But they also need a steady stream of prisoners to take the risk of bringing the deliveries through their cell window – whether they volunteer or not.
Brenda said her son was put under pressure to take a drone in through his window.
“He said he didn’t want to do it and they said no, we’re not asking you, we’re telling you it’s coming, it’ll be there at 10.30 tonight,” she said.
“You make sure you get it. Of course, he didn’t do it. He said he switched his light off, he put himself in bed and he was having nothing to do with it.”
The consequences were swift and horrific.
“He was burnt. They burnt him with melted down sugar and boiling water. His face, his hands and his arm.”
Brenda says her son was then attacked twice more – and left in no doubt why.
“He’s been told: ‘we will go and we will get your family’,” she said.
“We can find them quicker than you would ever imagine. My son will either take his own life or he will be killed because he won’t conform. He’ll be coming out in a body bag. I don’t want him to die.”
“My son will either take his own life or he will be killed because he won’t conform. He’ll be coming out in a body bag. I don’t want him to die.”
– ‘Brenda’
A Ministry of Justice Spokesperson said:
“This government inherited a prison system in crisis.
“Drones pose a serious risk to prison security. That is why we are investing £40 million in new security measures to clamp down on the contraband that fuels violence behind bars – including £10 million on anti-drone measures such as exterior netting and reinforced windows.”
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