Latest news with #prisonsecurity
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
Preston probation officer hid relationship with prisoner
A prison probation officer who posed a "significant risk to prison security" by failing to mention her relationship with a prisoner when she got the job has been Wilkinson, 27, did not disclose any conflicts of interest when she applied for the role at HMP Preston or during her vetting period, the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU) relationship with prisoner Gary Hampson, which began in 2018, was uncovered after a mobile phone found in his cell showed the pair had called, emailed and messaged each who pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office, was sentenced at Preston Crown Court to 12 months in prison, suspended for 18 months. Det Insp Brian Morley, of NWROCU, said: "Wilkinson's actions represented a serious breach of trust and undermined the integrity of the criminal justice system."Wilkinson was also sentenced for offences including unauthorised access to a computer and encouraging the possession of a mobile 26, was handed six months' imprisonment to run consecutively with his existing sentence after admitting encouraging misconduct in a public office and possessing an unauthorised mobile phone in prison. Smuggling contraband The sentencing followed an investigation into her misconduct while employed at HMP Preston, which she started working at in vetting for the role was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, by which time Wilkinson, of Preston, had already completed her training and failed to declare any conflicts of in April 2021, Wilkinson told her line manager she knew prisoner Gary Hampson and one of his relatives, citing a family connection, the NWROCU claimed to have submitted a conflict of interest report but records show she only declared a connection to another prisoner and no formal disclosure was made regarding Hampson and his relative.A month later, reports surfaced alleging a corrupt probation officer was smuggling contraband into HMP Preston. A subsequent investigation revealed Wilkinson was in a relationship with Hampson, a continuation of a prior relationship and had visited him in prison in January had also been listed as a friend of two other inmates.A mobile phone seized from Hampson's cell showed messages between Wilkinson and Hampson, while a card sent online by the officer to the prisoner was also found. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
CBS News
4 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
New Orleans sheriff says brazen jailbreak was the culmination of a "perfect storm"
New Orleans — The sheriff who oversees a New Orleans jail that was the site of a brash escape of 10 inmates earlier this year told CBS News in an exclusive interview Thursday that prison staffing and design flaws played a major role in the breakout. Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said the Orleans Parish Justice Center jail, built 10 years ago, was poorly constructed from the start. "There are major design flaws in it that make it unsafe for those who are housed here and make it unsafe for those who work here," Hutson told CBS News. "And I included the locks and other mechanisms that I don't want to talk about on camera that are safety issues. But we talked about this, and we alerted everybody in the system." The May 16 escape prompted an extensive manhunt involving hundreds of local, state, and federal law enforcement officers. It underscored serious security failures at the facility that prompted significant criticism for Hutson even though she had spoken about the problems in a public tour of the jail just a few weeks prior. She even posted on Instagram about broken locks just three days earlier, on May 13. And in the days after the escape, Hutson told reporters that the city had ignored repeated requests from her over the past several years to fund necessary renovations and security upgrades to the jail. She told CBS News Thursday that the timeline of the jailbreak dates back to the facility's construction. The jail is currently undergoing an audit with the National Institute of Corrections, which is reviewing its finances and security systems. She also says the jail is currently only 60% staffed, up from a 45% staffing level when she was first elected to the post in the fall of 2021. "We need more people in this jail to secure it, and that didn't happen," Hutson said. "So, for the last three years, I've been saying this every year during budget cycle, every chance I get that I have a chance to speak to the city government, and it's not been rectified. So here we come to May. Now it comes full circle. The perfect storm is there. We had people in our organization who assisted here." During the escape, part of which was captured on surveillance video, the inmates removed a jail cell door off its track and ripped a toilet from an empty jail cell wall. The inmates crawled through a hole in the wall behind the toilet, made their way through a narrow plumbing room full of pipes, and broke out of a maintenance door onto an outdoor loading dock. The inmates then climbed a fence that separated the Orleans Parish Justice Center from the construction site of another jail facility, and eventually sprinted across a freeway. All but one of the ten inmates has since been captured. Hutson has previously described the breakout as an "inside job." More than a dozen people have been arrested on accusations of aiding in the escape, but only one of those arrestees was a jail employee, a maintenance worker identified as 33-year-old Sterling Williams. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. CBS News also previously learned that several jail guards were placed on paid administrative leave amid a state investigation into their potential involvement in the jailbreak. Hutson still believes the escape was an inside job, but says there is still a tedious investigation ahead into who else should be held responsible. "There are about 900 cameras in the Orleans Justice Center," Hutson said. "It takes a long time to go through those and look and see who did what. But I can absolutely guarantee you that we know there were more actors involved in this." Last month, the sheriff's office received $15 million in emergency funding from the state to make critical security upgrades to the jail. Hutson blames the delay in receiving those funds on "some actors in the system" who "do not want to see me succeed." "This is political office, and there are challenges to that," Hutson said. "And in this election cycle — and there are members of government supporting those challengers, no doubt. But I know this, the timing is very curious." She says that her team is "doing everything we can" to capture the last outstanding inmate, Derrick Groves, who was convicted of murder in 2024 for the shooting deaths of two men. "But we know he's getting help also out there in the community, which is a little shocking, that given what his history is, and his history of violence is, that he's getting that help," Hutson said. "...I do believe we will find him. It's just a matter of time."
The Guardian
14-07-2025
- The Guardian
French prisoner rearrested days after escape in cellmate's laundry bag
A prisoner who escaped from a French jail hidden in the laundry bag of another detainee who was released on Friday has been rearrested, authorities have said, amid a continuing debate over prison security and overcrowding. Elyazid A, 20, known as 'the Joker' or 'the Equaliser', was detained early on Monday morning as he emerged from a cellar in a village about 15 miles (25km) from Lyon-Corbas, the prison he had escaped from on Friday. Prison officers had not noticed his disappearance until he had been gone for 24 hours. They said he escaped in a large plastic laundry bag filled with clothes wheeled out of the prison on a trolley by one of his cellmates who was released on Friday. The cellmate is still being sought, police said. The justice minister, Gérald Darmanin, has ordered an investigation into the circumstances of the escape, as have Lyon public prosecutors, the French prison service and Lyon-Corbas jail itself. Sébastien Cauwel, the national prison service chief, said Elyazid A, who was in prison for a range of relatively minor offences but also under investigation for alleged criminal association and conspiracy to murder, had not been flagged as a security risk. Cauwel told BFMTV that the escape method was 'extremely rare' and the fact it had succeeded was 'the consequence of a series of dysfunctions – serious and inadmissible dysfunctions – inside this prison, which are now being fully investigated'. He said the episode appeared to be a result of 'human rather than material' failing inside the prison, but added that severe overcrowding 'obviously makes the prison officers' job somewhat more difficult than it might otherwise be'. Lyon-Corbas prison was designed for 678 inmates but holds almost 1,220, according to report in May by the Lyon bar association, which called for an 'urgent end to overcrowding so as to respect fundamental rights and human dignity'. France's total prison population of 85,000 is housed in jails meant to accommodate fewer than 63,000, Cauwel said. He said it was possible officers had not noticed the escape because cells that were no longer fully occupied 'are immediately refilled'. According to a 2024 Council of Europe report, France's 186 prisons have the worst overcrowding rate in the EU after those in Cyprus and Romania. Spectacular escapes are not uncommon, with nearly 20 helicopter breakouts since the 1980s. Unions say the prison service is understaffed by at least 5,000 officers. In April, 21 people were arrested after a wave of attacks hit multiple French jails, with automatic weapons fired at the entrance to Toulon prison in the south of the country. In other incidents, cars were set alight and prison officers' accommodation was vandalised in what media described as a 'declaration of war' by drug cartels after a government crackdown on traffickers and the imposition of tougher conditions for kingpins operating inside jails. The justice ministry has said it is working to improve general prison conditions, with measures including new high-security prisons for the most dangerous detainees aimed at combating organised crime that often continues to be run from inside jails.
The Sun
11-05-2025
- The Sun
Evil Southport killer will be fed through a hatch like Hannibal Lecter after prison officer attack
SOUTHPORT killer Axel Rudakubana will get Hannibal Lecter-style security including a five-guard escort and feeding hatch following his attack on a prison officer. The 18-year-old — serving 52 years for killing three girls in July — will be allowed out only briefly to shower or to exercise on the yard. 1 He could be moved today from HMP Belmarsh, South East London, where Thursday's scalding attack took place. A source said: 'They will treat Rudakubana much more severely. It will not be far off Hannibal Lecter because they will take no chances.' Serial killer Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins, was kept in a maximum- security cell in 1991 film The Silence Of The Lambs. The source said: 'Rudakubana will only be able to open the latch on his side once the officers have shut the box and closed it on their side. "This is a huge deal in UK jails as it is considered it dehumanises inmates. 'He will be let out of his cell only after being searched and escorted by at least five officers, who will be in PPE and could use a dog. "The unit will be locked down each time he is moved.' Manchester Arena terrorist Hashem Abedi, who scalded four staff at HMP Frankland, Co Durham, weeks earlier. The source said: 'Abedi has just been moved to Belmarsh. The timing is no coincidence.' Rudakubana could now be moved to a prison in the North or to HMP Whitemoor, Cambs. Yesterday Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said of staff attacks: 'It's a disgrace. There's a crisis in prisons.' The Ministry of Justice said: 'We take attacks on staff incredibly seriously.'
