Prison gangs: ‘I’ve chopped people, attacked staff, hidden drugs’

An inmate serving life for murder at another jail calls us from his illegal phone. He talks about the impact gangs have had on him while he’s been in custody. To protect his safety, we’re not naming him.

“I was vulnerable and pushed to be in a gang and then I was made to do all sorts for them,” he says. “Listen, I’ve chopped people, I’ve attacked staff, hiding phones and drugs… I’ve done the maddest things that I’ve not wanted to do, just for my safety.

“The prison officers let them get away with it because they’re just as scared.”

We’re on FaceTime and he shows me scars on his neck and arms, which he says are the result of not following the gang’s orders properly.

“They did this to me,” he says. “If you don’t do what they want? It’s over.

“I get people might think I deserve this, ‘cos of what I’ve done, but I’m sorry, and I should get rehabilitation and not this.”

The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) says overcrowding and lack of space is making it more challenging to keep gangs apart in prisons. In September, hundreds of convicts walked out of jails in England and Wales after serving 40% of their sentences, as part of the government’s early release scheme aimed at freeing up capacity.