Corruption & bribery behind bars exposed as ex-con reveals lags pay £500 for KFC & how inmates have sex with guards

Scottish Sun

24-06-2025

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PRISONERS are paying guards up to £500 to smuggle in a KFC bargain bucket.
And they will shell out as much as £200 for a pack of Rizla fag papers to be sneaked into jail.
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Corruption and bribery are rife in British prisons
Credit: Alamy
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UK Prisons Exposed: Sex, Drugs and Corruption, which is available to stream on Channel 4 from tonight, is presented by ex-inmate David Navarro
The bribery behind bars is revealed in a documentary that also lifts the lid on how lags get their hands on booze and drugs — and have sexual relations with warders.
UK Prisons Exposed: Sex, Drugs and Corruption, which is available to stream on Channel 4 from tonight, is presented by ex-inmate David Navarro.
He has spent a decade in and out of custody so knows the dodgy dealings that go on — with officers often turning a blind eye, or up to their necks in it.
The documentary even features footage secretly shot by cons to show off their often sizeable stashes of contraband — known in the trade as 'bird'.
Weed is heaped in a cell, along with a pile of mobile phones, bottles of high-end Ciroc vodka, Courvoisier brandy, Wray & Nephew rum and boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, plus KFC, Nando's, McDonald's and Chinese takeaway feasts.
'That bird just keeps on coming,' a man can be heard chuckling.
Another adds: 'It's like Carphone Warehouse.'
Bringing things in, that's their (officers) bread & butter. It might be a pack of Rizlas for £200. I've seen it so many times on different occasions
Nathan
But officers not earning big money will often stand back and do nothing.
In one clip, a warder smells drugs but just says: 'I told you, open the f***ing window.'
A prisoner called Nathan, wearing a balaclava as a disguise, claims that many staff — who are on about £33,000 a year — are wide open to bungs.
Prisoner who had sex with female guard is violently attacked while holding baby in family visit – fracturing tot's skull
He reveals: 'I have seen it so many times.
'It could have been a Nando's from outside or a KFC.
'It could be phones, it could be drugs.
'It could be anything.'
Asked how much prisoners pay for deliveries, Nathan adds: 'That all depends on the officer.
Secret affair
'If she wants to say to you, '500 quid' and you really want it, then you're gonna pay 500 quid for a KFC bargain bucket.
'That's an expensive KFC.'
He adds of the guards: 'Bringing things in, that's their bread and butter.
'It might be a pack of Rizlas for one hundred, two hundred quid.'
Big-money backhander payments are often processed by someone on the outside­.
But prisoners also blackmail officers into bringing them banned items, by amassing personal text messages to use against them.
Nathan says of getting guards to play ball: 'You've got to build up slowly, slowly, build up your relationship on the wing, test the waters or be flirty — do what you gotta do until you secure the bag.
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Prisoner Nathan claims that many staff — who are on about £33,000 a year — are wide open to bungs, pictured being interviewed by David
Credit: Channel 4
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Former prisoner Beatrice, who did time for money laundering, says guards make moves on inmates
Credit: Channel 4
'If there are text messages . . . I've got you under my thumb.'
Meanwhile, another jailbird reveals how lusty lags get it on with prison visitors as well as officers.
In a video call made on an illegal phone, he says: 'We call it patterning up with them.
'It's a mixture of male and female.
'It could even be your healthcare worker, it could be your education teacher, it could be anybody.'
A former warder who gives her name as just Rachel, was a married mother of four when she began a secret affair with an armed robber serving a ten-year sentence.
Rachel, 29, says about her old job: 'The hours were ridiculous, the overtime was ridiculous, it ruined my marriage because I was never there.
'We hit rock bottom, I took my ring off.'
An inmate then started coming on to her at work.
She recalls: 'He approached me wanting help, we had a few conversations.
'There was banter, inappropriate comments — then I shared photos and a sexually explicit letter.
Storeroom romp
'As soon as I'd given it to him, I said, 'You need to flush it away'. He told me had.'
But the images were found, and in 2022 Rachel was co­nvicted of neglecting her duties, got a suspended sentence and community service — and was fired.
She insists: 'There had been no storeroom romp.'
But at her trial, the judge said 'CCTV footage shows the two of you together and you were in a room privately, together. Intimacy must have taken place.'
Another ex-officer, called Moses, reveals goings-on such as this are common.
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What lags are smuggling in
He says: 'Female prison officers get a lot of attention from prisoners, it's bound to happen.
'If they are not strong-minded they get drawn in.
'If they are smart and keep their mouth shut it can go on for a long time.
'But when it moves to exploitation — getting the officer to bring in phones, [synthetic cannabis substitutes] spice and black mamba, all the illegal substances, it becomes too big to manage.
'From the prisoners' perspective it's just business.
'He's trying to bring in illicit items, and sell them.'
But former prisoner Beatrice, who did time for money laundering, says guards also make moves on inmates.
While the vast majority of prison staff are honest, we are catching more of the small minority who break the rules, through our Counter-Corruption Unit
A Prison Service spokesman
She reveals: 'An officer would regularly comment on my appearance.
'He suggested he would want to come in my cell or meet up when I was released.
'He would say things like, 'I'm all yours'.
'Other members of staff recognised his behaviour was creepy but if you make a complaint the staff are going to protect each other.
'I heard other allegations that officers had relationships with women on the drug-addiction wing, it's common knowledge that this happens all the time.'
A Prison Service spokesman said: 'While the vast majority of prison staff are honest, we are catching more of the small minority who break the rules, through our Counter-Corruption Unit.
'Where officers fall below our high standards, we take robust action.'