Alcohol and drugs smuggled into Ford Open Prison

Prisoners found it "relatively easy" to leave Ford open prison in Arundel, inspectors found.

Only six staff were on duty at night to watch more than 500 mostly white collar criminals on a 100-acre site.

Some convicts arranged for drink and other banned items to be left just outside the perimeter for collection, the report found.

Last year staff discovered a stash of 30 bottles of vodka. The report said such finds were "not uncommon".

The week before the inspection in October, two "violently drunk" prisoners vandalised a segregation block.

In another incident a prisoner was attacked by five others wearing balaclavas.

Staff asked for more CCTV cameras but were refused because of cost, the report said.

"The main security problems were the smuggling of alcohol, drugs and mobile phones in to the prison," the report said.

"The size of the site and low staffing level at night meant that it was relatively easy for prisoners to leave residential areas at night and return with alcohol and other contraband purchased locally or left on the edge of the perimeter by accomplices."

Ford, a category D prison, holds 550 prisoners in huts on a formal Royal Navy air base.

Geoff Dobson, deputy director, Prison Reform Trust said: "With the massive increase in the number of people serving long and indeterminate sentences, open prisons have a vital role to play in helping prisoners prepare for and adjust to life on the outside.

"It is very disappointing that Ford prison has again been found wanting in its principal task, that of resettlement.

"With alcohol being smuggled in at night, personal officer work virtually non-existent, a lack of instructors for workshops and an offender management unit not yet effective, there is an urgent need for a step change in performance at Ford."

Chief inspector of prisons Anne Owers called for better management oversight at the prison.

Phil Wheatley, director general of the National Offender Management Service, said: "I recognise the concerns raised by the chief inspector, but am pleased to also note the positive aspects of the report."

"That most staff are caring and committed is something I would expect and it is for the new Governor and her staff at Ford to drive forward change at the prison."