UK gangs using dead rats to smuggle drugs and mobile phones into Dorset’s Guys Marsh prison
- Facility has troubled recent history, with a drunk prisoner setting fire to the roof in 2017 after stripping off and burning his clothes
- Photos on Facebook in 2016 showed inmates drinking, using drugs and eating takeaway fish and chips, while others are said to walk around in dressing gowns
Criminal gangs are using dead rats to smuggle contraband material such as drugs and mobile phones into jail, the Prison Service has said.
Staff at HMP Guys Marsh in Dorset discovered three rodents that had been stitched up across their stomachs. Subsequent investigation revealed the animals had been stuffed with phones and chargers, sim cards and drugs.
The animals were found just inside of the perimeter fence of the category C institution, which has been plagued by ill discipline.
The Ministry of Justice said the animals had been thrown over the fence of the prison by criminals who had alerted inmates to pick them up.
Previously, gangs have used pigeons and tennis balls to try to bypass prison security measures.
“This find shows the extraordinary lengths to which criminals will go to smuggle drugs into prison and underlines why our work to improve security is so important,” said prisons minister Rory Stewart. “Drugs and mobile phones behind bars put prisoners, prison officers and the public at risk. By toughening security and searching, we can ensure prisons are places of rehabilitation that will prevent further reoffending and keep the public safe.”
