Corruption in jails 'not tackled'

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Prison officials have failed to tackle corruption among jail staff despite producing a report last May urging immediate action, the BBC has learned.

The report, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, said an independent anti-corruption task force was needed.

The Prison Service said it was still studying the findings, but one Tory MP said the delay was "staggering".

Another paper last year suggested 1,000 staff were corrupt - many smuggling drugs and mobile phones into jails.

'Misguided loyalty'

The newly-obtained report, which was produced jointly by the Prison Service and the police, is highly critical of staff.

It highlighted a "culture of misguided loyalty that places allegiance to colleagues before integrity".

If all of these measures are put in place great progress will be made Henry BellinghamConservative MP <a class="" href="/1/hi/uk/5230126.stm">Many staff corrupt - report</a>

And it said there was "tacit acceptance at some grass root levels that drugs are necessary for the maintenance of good order and discipline".

The report questioned the work of the Professional Standards Unit, responsible for internal investigations into staff conduct.

Very few formal inquiries concerned drug-trafficking and accounts of corruption often would not even reach the unit, the report stated.

It recommended a task force be set up entirely independent of the current one, made up of police and prison staff.

'Strengthened approach'

In response, the Prison Service issued a statement saying a "programme of work" has begun to analyse "the conclusions and recommendations of the work done over the last year".

This would "result in a strengthened approach to tackling staff corruption in the light of the current threat and levels of expertise which exist".

Conservative MP Henry Bellingham described the report as "dynamite".

"It reveals what the problem is and comes up with some excellent recommendations.

"If all of these measures are put in place... great progress will be made.

"But if it is pushed to one side, as looks very likely, then this problem is just going to get worse and worse."