Find forces prison into lock changes
RANBY Prison has forked out £78,000 to change locks after wardens found an inmate with a copy key – fashioned from a plastic canteen knife.
The four-inch ‘key’ was found in a cell two weeks ago at the Category C prison which houses around 1,100 male prisoners, including murderers and rapists.
It is thought to have been cut from an impression and manufactured in a workshop for later use – either for an escape attempt or to trade in drugs, mobile phones and SIM cards.
Governor Louise Taylor said she immediately alerted her superiors and organised for the locks to be changed within 24 hours.
“The key would not have opened all locks in the prison, as the national press have reported – it would be great if we could have one key that would do all that,” she said.
“This particular key would have had the ability to open some of the zonal gates around the prison and the end gates to accommodation. It did not open the door to my office nor did it open the cells.”
But an immediate lockdown was not organised following the find – something which Mrs Taylor said would have been ‘completely impossible’ for a prison the size of Ranby.
”We would not have known the age of the key and there was no evidence to suggest there were other keys of this nature elsewhere in the prison,” she said.
”The key would not open any doors until it was amended, so the prison is confident it had not be used to open any doors.”
”The instances when we would hold a lockdown would be if we had intelligence about a dangerous weapon or drugs in the prison – and the last time we had that was in May this year.”
A spokesman for the Prison Officers Association (POA) said the prison’s response to the key compromise was ‘peculiar’ and that an internal investigation was needed.
“When a serious breach of security has taken place, such as this key compromise, we would await for an internal investigation to be concluded because our members may be part of that investigation,” said the spokesman.
MrsTaylor said this kind of incident was few and far between but said it was unlikely any action would be taken against the prisoner in question.
”No action will be taken in terms of the key. In order to prove possession you have got to be able to establish that he had knowledge and control of the item,” she said.
”We followed the protocol in place and immediately changed the locks. And prison staff will continue to observe the usual protocol and ensure keys are kept out of sight of prisoners. It is a long time since a member of staff took a key out of the establishment.”
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Weather for Worksop
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 10 C to 21 C
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