UK: Jailbreak fears as prison maps are leaked on the dark web
Detailed layouts of high-security prisons have been shared online, prompting an investigation by security officials
Security officials are investigating a major leak of detailed prison layouts amid fears they will be exploited by criminals to smuggle drugs and weapons into prisons or used to aid an escape.
Emergency security measures have been deployed at multiple jails across England and Wales after the blueprints were shared on the dark web over the past fortnight. The schematic plans are also understood to include the location of sensors and cameras.
Prison officials believe that organised crime groups are behind the leak in order to help them deliver drugs into prison yards and cells via drones, or even to facilitate an escape.
Security officials from the Cabinet Office and the Prison Service are investigating the security breach to try to discover who is behind the leak and who may benefit from it. The National Crime Agency (NCA), known as Britain’s FBI, is offering its expertise in an advisory role to the investigation
Prison officials who work at the jails were sent an internal email titled “security alert” to inform them of the security breach earlier this month, which has been shared with The Times.
They were told that the breach could affect the security of the jails’ perimeters, internal fences which have technology installed within them to alert attempted breaches and raise an alarm.
The memos to staff reported that there had been a data loss which had led to “vulnerabilities” to these security systems. This meant there was a risk that members of the public had been made aware of information that put prisons’ perimeters “at risk”.
This may be from people “attempting to convey items into the establishment/aid an escape,” the email warned. It urged staff to be extra vigilant and alert to any changes in prisoners’ behaviour that may be connected with the security breach.
Additional patrols have been carried out at jails affected by the security breach.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed the breach but declined to disclose which prisons were involved as it tried to minimise the fallout from the leak. It said that it would be inappropriate to comment further while an investigation was ongoing.
A government spokesman said: “We do not comment on security matters.” Staff at prisons affected were told there was no specific intelligence about who was behind the leaks but added: “We must not be complacent to this risk.”
Ian Acheson, a former prison governor and a counter-terrorism expert who reviewed extremism in prisons for the government, said that organised crime groups could use copies of the layouts along with other public information to co-ordinate drone deliveries of drugs and weapons, and potentially orchestrate an escape.
His 2016 independent review of extremism warned that an attack on the exterior of a high security prison was a plausible scenario because high value targets were being kept in places with poor exterior security and defences designed to keep people in and not out.
Responding to revelations of the prison layouts, Acheson said: “If plans of high-security prisons have been leaked, co-ordinating that with open source material or Google maps could aid an escape after an attack on the exterior of the prison. Much more plausible is using additional data to co-ordinate drone drops. But if you can deliver half a kilo of drugs via a drone then you can deliver weapons, explosives, whatever you want. These places are wide open.”
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https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/leak-of-prison-layout-plans-lead-to-drugs-and-escape-fears-ddg6d9lz6