Inmates at a crisis-hit prison are sitting in their cells watching daytime TV and taking drugs smuggled in through broken windows, a damning inspection report has found. 

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said drones were bringing ‘large quantities’ of drugs into HMP Manchester, more commonly known as Strangeways. 

He found broken or insecure windows had gone unfixed for two years due to ‘absurdly bureaucratic planning processes’, allowing gangs to act with ‘impunity’.  

Inspectors returned to Manchester 15 months after Mr Taylor invoked an urgent notification notice and found it remains in ‘a precarious state’. 

He said there had been some improvements at the prison, with the governor and his team restoring ‘an element of stability’ but there was ‘a fragility about the place that makes us nervous’.

Drugs are continuing to flood into the jail, which houses category A and B prisoners – around 38 per cent of whom tested positive in random tests. 

Mr Taylor said the issue was being exacerbated by poor physical security, with HM Prison Service taking ‘far too long’ to fit new secure windows.

Prisoners are burning holes in windows at HMP Manchester to allow them to snatch packages hanging from drones 

Funding for these was approved in 2021 but ‘hardly any’ have been installed, he found. 

Even these have now been breached, with inmates taking ‘a couple of days’ to find a way of melting the panes using the filaments of their kettles. 

Prisoners are then able to reach through the gaps to grab packages of drugs hanging down from drones hovering outside.  

Outlining the grim situation at the prison, Mr Taylor wrote: ‘The number of weapons and other illicit items found in recent months was among the highest of all prisons holding adult men and the proportion of prisoners testing positive for drug use was very high at 39 per cent. 

‘We found many examples of poor physical security, including, for example, a failing CCTV system; slow action by HMPPS to install more secure cell windows (which were themselves already being breached); and a failure to replace damaged netting over the exercise yards that might deter the frequent arrival of drones delivering illicit packages.’

Mr Taylor found a lack of positive training opportunities at the prison, prompting inmates to be locked in their cells for long periods of time. 

‘What we saw at Manchester was far too many prisoners sitting in their cells watching daytime TV and in many cases taking drugs,’ he said.

Rubbish strewn over the razor wire at HMP Manchester in a photo taken by prison inspectors 

The chief inspector previously told how bosses at Manchester had ‘ceded the airspace’ over the prison to drug-carrying drones, which he described as a ‘threat to national security’.

‘The safety of staff, prisoners and ultimately that of the public, is seriously compromised by the failure to tackle what has become a threat to national security,’ he said.

‘It is highly alarming that the police and Prison Service have, in effect, ceded the airspace above two high-security prisons to organised crime gangs, which are able to deliver contraband to jails holding extremely dangerous prisoners including some who have been designated as high-risk Category A.

‘It is chilling that weapons can be delivered in this way – especially when some of these wings hold terrorists.’

Enver Solomon, chief executive of social justice charity Nacro, said the latest report was ‘a damning indictment of a prison system in crisis.

 How can rehabilitation happen when drug use and violence are rife, and chronic staff shortages leave people in prison with little meaningful activity?

‘When nearly half of prisoners are using drugs and many are locked in cells for up to 22 hours a day, rehabilitation doesn’t stand a chance. But we know it is essential for helping people turn their lives around and ultimately for keeping our communities safe.

Mr Taylor found a lack of positive training opportunities at the prison, prompting inmates to be locked in their cells for long periods of time 

‘We see first-hand how work and educational opportunities inside prison, health and wellbeing and recovery support on release can break the vicious cycle of reoffending. Developing services that address the root causes of offending are vital for real change.’

An MoJ spokesman said: ‘This is a prison operating under immense pressure after this government inherited a prison system at the peak of its crisis.

‘We took immediate action to bring the system back from the point of collapse and while we welcome inspectors recognising the strong leadership now in place at HMP Manchester, we are taking urgent action to stop drones, upgrade security and tackle the flow of drugs which fuels violence behind bars.’