A damning report says a Kent prison has become "more unstable", with drugs being smuggled in via drones as one of the major problems.

The findings of an unannounced inspection at HMP Elmley on Sheppey have been published today (June 16).

It comes after calls for training at the site to be reviewed after a young inmate killed himself just 48 hours after being locked up.

In November 2023, Simon Faherty was remanded in custody and then later found hanged in his cell.

The Prison and Probation Ombudsman's report noted there were “missed opportunities” to identify him as at risk of suicide and self-harm.

HMP Elmley has since been inspected in February and March this year.

In the past 12 months, there had been 238 assaults on prisoners, 77 fights and 152 assaults on staff.

Of these, 18 staff assaults and 11 prisoner assaults were recorded as serious.

While violence against prisoners had decreased since the last inspection and was lower than in similar prisons, assaults on staff had increased by 69%.

Inspectors found that the prison didn’t carry out drug testing very well and window barriers had been compromised, allowing drones to “drop off packages to individual cells”.

In January, the mandatory drug tests had a positive rate of 29%, however, it was mentioned that there was good healthcare support for those with substance addictions.

Speaking with KentOnline, team leader at HM Inspectorate of Prisons, Angus Jones, said drones were a “real issue” and the prison was struggling to find a solution.

“They [the prisoners] were getting hold of any drugs that they could they could pay for - the drones are only limited by weight - so whatever was ordered was brought in,” he explained.

“Given the number of windows that they had compromised and the fact that all prisons have limited staffing overnight and at certain points of the day, it was very difficult for them to prevent this issue from coming into the establishment.

“A drone can deliver anything it wants into an establishment, so not just drugs, things like mobile phones and more concerningly - although not at this site - the potential for things like weapons as well.”

The jail, which holds a mixture of remand and sentenced category B and C adult prisoners, has 350 new arrivals a month.

With 65% of men on remand or awaiting sentence, the report states that it was noticeably “more unstable” since the last inspection in 2022.

It said: “The pressure on creating spaces was so great that, absurdly, some men who only had a few nights to serve were being shipped out to Rochester.

“Prisoners were often travelling further to get to the jail and many were arriving late at night.

“This meant they did not always get a proper induction or medical screening.”

Holding cells at the prison in Church Road, Eastchurch were described as “bleak” and lacked furniture, with floors “worn away” and toilets “horribly stained”.

Inspectors pointed out that in the induction wing, only one had a pillow.

Mr Jones added: “Prisoners weren't living in the sorts of respectful conditions that we would expect.

“We don't expect prisons to be luxurious, but we expect them to be decent for people, many of whom are spending long periods of time locked in those cells because of that lack of purposeful activity.”

At the time of the inspection, HMP Elmley had 1,025 prisoners and was said to be “less overcrowded” than many other sites across the country.

However, the report highlighted that there weren’t enough activity places and 440 inmates were unemployed.

It did mention that leaders had worked hard to improve staff recruitment and for the first time had an ideal number of officers.

Despite this, many were “inexperienced” and came from Commonwealth countries.

This resulted in the relationship between prisoners and staff deteriorating, especially those from an ethnic minority and Muslim background.

“Elmley should be able to improve,” Mr Jones concluded. “The staffing puts them in a better position to do that.

“But it will need a significant amount of support from the centre, including a solution to the drone problem.

“There is only so much that local managers can do. They can try and fix the window grills.

“They can check cells more thoroughly and do drug testing, but they don't have a national solution for drones right now.”

The prison will be reviewed again in around eight to 12 months.