UK report says up to 1000 prison guards are corrupt

LONDON - As many as 1000 prison staff in England and Wales are corrupt, using their positions to smuggle mobile phones and drugs to inmates, according to a report.

The study, which was obtained and reported by the BBC, by the prison service's own anti-corruption unit and London's Metropolitan Police said another 500 staff had inappropriate relationships with prisoners.

The prison service, which employs over 45,000 staff in England and Wales, said the problem was not widespread.

"We don't tolerate any form of corruption, we are determined to root it out," a home office official told Reuters. "We are confident the vast majority of prison staff are honest."

She said the joint study was the result of "extrapolation from anecdotal evidence and investigations".

Several unnamed prison governors are quoted in the report, one of whom said there were far too many mobile phones in jail for them all to have been brought in without the aid of staff.

An academic commissioned by the prison service to look at corruption six years ago said the problem was widespread.

Tim Newburn, a professor at the London School of Economics, told the BBC it was a "significant problem for control, for order for discipline and crucially I think for ethical conduct within the Prison Service".

- REUTERS