Drugs smuggling 'destabilising' prisons, watchdog says

Prisons Minister Lord Timpson said the report showed the "scale of the crisis we inherited" and that the government was working to end the "chaos".

"This meant in many jails, there were seemingly uncontrolled levels of criminality that hard-pressed and often inexperienced staff were unable to contain," Charlie Taylor wrote.

Prisons are being targeted by criminal gangs using drones to fly in contraband to sell to bored inmates being kept in cramped conditions, according to the chief inspector of prisons' annual report.

An overwhelming amount of drugs being smuggled into prisons in England and Wales is "destabilising" the system and hindering efforts to stop re-offending, a watchdog has warned.

The damning report published on Tuesday found overcrowding and staffing shortages were contributing to a lack of purposeful activities for prisoners to do that would aid their rehabilitation, with many turning to drugs to keep themselves occupied.

Both staff and prisoners have been saying for several years that far too little is being done to keep drugs out of prisons.

A survey of 5,431 prisoners found 39% said it was easy to acquire drugs, while 30% of random drug tests came back positive.

In one prison, HMP Hindley, this rate was almost double.

An inspection of HMP Bedford found random drug testing had not been conducted for 12 months despite drugs being a "significant threat to safety".

Drugs are smuggled into prisons by visitors or staff, thrown over fences or flown in using drones.

An inmate serving time for a violent offence told the BBC that getting drugs inside was "super easy".

Speaking from his cell on an illegal phone, he said: "If you want spice [synthetic cannabis] or weed or something stronger, you can get it in a jiffy. Everyone inside knows who's got some. You can smell it across the wings.

"The boredom is too much and sometimes you just want something to take your mind off it so you'll get high."

The report said drones were being used to make regular deliveries to HMP Manchester and Long Lartin - which hold "some of the most dangerous men in the country, including terrorists and organised crime bosses".

It said that physical security measures were inadequate, while at HMP Manchester "inexperienced staff were being manipulated or simply ignored by prisoners".

Mr Taylor said the failure to tackle these issues presented a threat to national security.

"The challenge for the prison service must be to work in conjunction with the police and security services to manage prisoners associated with organised crime," Mr Taylor said.

"This is a threat that needs to be taken seriously at the highest levels of government."

Texas floods death toll climbs to more than 100

2 hours ago Share Save Angélica Casas BBC News Reporting from Kerrville, Texas Share Save

Watch: Volunteers help lead search for their neighbours after Texas flooding

The death toll from flash floods that struck central Texas on Friday has now climbed to more than 100 people and an unknown number of others are missing. Search and rescue teams are wading through mud-piled riverbanks as more rain and thunderstorms threaten the region, but hope was fading of finding any more survivors four days after the catastrophe. Camp Mystic, a Christian all-girls' summer camp, confirmed at least 27 girls and staff were among the dead. Ten girls and a camp counsellor are still missing. The White House meanwhile rejected suggestions that budget cuts at the National Weather Service (NWS) could have inhibited the disaster response.

At least 84 of the victims - 56 adults and 28 children - died in Kerr County, where the Guadalupe River was swollen by torrential downpours before daybreak on Friday, the July Fourth public holiday. Some 22 adults and 10 children have yet to be identified, said the county sheriff's office. Why Texas floods were so devastating Camp Mystic said in a statement on Monday: "Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy." Richard Eastland, 70, the co-owner and director of Camp Mystic, died trying to save the children, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Local pastor Del Way, who knows the Eastland family, told the BBC: "The whole community will miss him [Mr Eastland]. He died a hero."

In its latest forecast, the NWS has predicted more slow-moving thunderstorms, potentially bringing more flash flooding to the region. Critics of the Trump administration have sought to link the disaster to thousands of job cuts at the NWS' parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The NWS office responsible for forecasting in the region had five employees on duty as thunderstorms brewed over Texas on Thursday evening, the usual number for an overnight shift when severe weather is expected. Did US government cuts contribute to the Texas tragedy? White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected attempts to blame the president. "That was an act of God," she told a daily briefing on Monday. "It's not the administration's fault that the flood hit when it did, but there were early and consistent warnings and, again, the National Weather Service did its job." She outlined that the NWS office in Austin-San Antonio conducted briefings for local officials on the eve of the flood and sent out a flood watch that afternoon, before issuing numerous flood warnings that night and in the pre-dawn hours of 4 July.

Watch: First responders save people caught in Texas flooding

Trump pushed back when asked on Sunday if federal government cuts had hampered the disaster response, initially appearing to shift blame to what he called "the Biden set-up", referring to his Democratic predecessor. "But I wouldn't blame Biden for it, either," he added. "I would just say this is a 100-year catastrophe." Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, told a news conference on Monday that now was not the time for "partisan finger-pointing".

Watch: Senator Ted Cruz talks about the children lost at Camp Mystic

Did US government cuts contribute to the Texas tragedy?

3 hours ago Share Save Ben Chu, Jake Horton, Kayla Epstein & Marco Silva BBC Verify Share Save

BBC

In the aftermath of the fatal Texas floods, some Democrats have warned about the "consequences" of the Trump administration's cuts to the federal government workforce, including meteorologists, with Senator Chris Murphy saying that: "Accurate weather forecasting helps avoid fatal disasters." The suggestion is that the cuts may have impeded the ability of the National Weather Service (NWS) - the government agency which provides weather forecasts in the US - to adequately predict the floods and raise the alarm. But the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said on Monday: "These offices [of the NWS] were well staffed… so any claims to the contrary are completely false." BBC Verify has examined the impact of cuts under President Trump in this area and while there has been a reduction in the workforce at the NWS, experts who we spoke to said the staffing on hand for the Texas floods appears to have been adequate.

What are the cuts?

The Trump administration has proposed a 25% cut to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) current annual budget of $6.1bn (£4.4bn). NOAA is the agency which oversees the NWS. This would take effect in the 2026 financial year which begins in October this year - so these particular cuts would not have contributed to the Texas tragedy. However, the staffing levels of the NWS have already been separately reduced by the Trump administration's efficiency drive since January. The Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), previously run by Elon Musk, offered voluntary redundancies, known as buyouts, as well as early retirements to federal government workers. It also ended the contracts of most of those who were on probation. As a result, about 200 people at the NWS took voluntary redundancy and 300 opted for early retirement, according to Tom Fahy, the director of the NWS union. A further 100 people were ultimately fired from the service, he said. In total, the NWS lost 600 of its 4,200 staff, says Mr Fahy, causing several offices across the country to operate without the necessary staffing. In April 2025, the Associated Press news agency said it had seen data compiled by NWS employees showing half of its offices had a vacancy rate of 20% - double the rate a decade earlier. Despite this, climate experts told BBC Verify that the NWS forecasts and flood warnings last week in Texas were as adequate as could be expected. "The forecasts and warnings all played out in a normal manner. The challenge with this event was that it is very difficult to forecast this type of extreme, localised rainfall," says Avantika Gori, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University in Texas. And Andy Hazelton, a climate scientist who modelled hurricane paths for the NOAA until he was fired during the layoffs in February, says: "I don't think the staffing issues contributed directly to this event. They got the watches and the warnings out."

What about the impact on offices in Texas?

However, some experts have suggested that staffing cuts may have impeded the ability of local NWS offices in Texas to effectively co-ordinate with local emergency services. "There is a real question as to whether the communication of weather information occurred in a way that was sub-optimal," says Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at University of California Los Angeles. "The impact might have been partially averted if some of the people at the weather service responsible for making those communications were still employed - which they were not in some of these local offices," he adds. The San Angelo and San Antonio offices, which cover the areas affected by the flooding, reportedly had some existing vacancies. For example, the San Antonio office's website lists several positions as being vacant, including two meteorologists.

Getty Images Rescue efforts are ongoing along the Guadalupe River in central Texas

The NSW union director told BBC Verify that the San Angelo office was missing a senior hydrologist, a scientist who specialises in flooding events. The San Antonio office also lacked a "warning coordinating meteorologist", who coordinates communications between local forecasting offices and emergency management services in communities, Mr Fahy said. However, he noted that both offices had temporarily upped their staffing in anticipation of a dangerous weather event, which is typical in these circumstances. "The NWS weather forecast offices in Austin/San Antonio and San Angelo, Texas had additional forecasters on duty during the catastrophic flooding event," NWS spokeswoman Erica Grow Cei said in a statement to BBC Verify. "All forecasts and warnings were issued in a timely manner," she added. NWS meteorologist Jason Runyen, who covers the San Antonio area, also said in a statement that where the office would typically have two forecasters on duty during clear weather, they had "up to five on staff". When asked on Sunday if government cuts had left key vacancies unfilled at the NWS, President Trump told reporters: "No, they didn't."

Were weather balloon launches reduced?

'PM to press Macron' and 'mushroom murders' trial

16 minutes ago Share Save Share Save

BBC Emmanuel Macron's state visit to the UK is splashed across several of the front pages, with the French president due to arrive on Tuesday. The Times reports that Sir Keir Starmer will urge Macron to agree a "one in, one out" migrant returns deal, despite warnings that announcing it before it is ready will lead to a surge in crossings. Also featured is a poignant picture of the girls who died or are missing after floods in Texas swept through their summer camp.

Macron's visit also leads the Daily Telegraph, with the paper reporting what King Charles III will tell Macron when the French president visits. There are "no borders" between us, the King will say, in a plea for co-operation as Sir Keir fights to save a migrant returns deal. The main image shows the moment a police officer is alleged to have been assaulted as CCTV footage of the incident at Manchester Airport was played to jurors. Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, are said to have struck out after police were called to an incident at the Starbucks cafe in Terminal 2 arrivals on 23 July last year. Both men, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny the allegations.

"Hand back out £771 million, Mr Macron ... s'il vous plait," says the Daily Mail ahead of the French president's visit. The paper says Macron will "face questions over his country's failure to make a dent in illegal Channel crossings - despite being handed more than three quarters of a billion pounds of British taxpayers money". Also splashed across the front page is the face of Erin Patterson, the Australian woman who was found guilty of murdering three relatives and attempting to kill another by serving wild mushrooms at a lunch.

The Sun leads with the latest development in the Jeffrey Epstein case. The paper reports that a leaked memo reveals the FBI is closing its investigation into Prince Andrew over his links to Epstein, meaning Andrew is free to travel abroad without fearing arrest. Epstein died in a New York prison cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. Prince Andrew has always denied any misconduct.

The closure of the inquiry into Prince Andrew also leads the Daily Mirror, with a "furious victim" of the late financier saying they have been "silenced all over again". The US Department of Justice and FBI have concluded that sex offender Epstein did not have a so-called client list that could implicate high-profile associates, and that he did take his own life - contradicting long-held conspiracy theories about the infamous case.

The Guardian reports that bosses in the UK will be banned from using non-disclosure agreements to silence employees who have suffered harassment and discrimination in the workplace if changes to the government's overhaul of workers' rights are approved. An amendment to the Employment Rights Bill, which is expected to become law later this year, will void any confidentiality agreements seeking to prevent workers from speaking about allegations of harassment or discrimination.

Labour's planning legislation has been branded "hypocrisy on stilts", the Daily Express reports, with ministers pushing to build 1.5 million new homes - despite previously opposing developments in their own constituencies. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and housing minister Matthew Pennycook are leading the push for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which has sparked a widespread backlash for threatening protected habitats and wildlife. The pair are among half a dozen Labour MPs who have opposed similar developments in the past.

Donald Trump's tariffs lead the Financial Times, with the US president extending his deadline for "reciprocal" levies. The US announced a new 25% tax on products entering the country from South Korea and Japan, which will come into force when the latest reprieve ends on 1 August. Trump began sharing a batch of letters to leaders of countries around the world outlining his tariff plans. The paper's main image centres on Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan and Sir Keir laying wreaths at the 7 July Memorial on the 20th anniversary of the London bombings.

The i Paper reports that the Labour government's revised welfare bill, which came after a backbench rebellion in the Commons, will lift 50,000 children and 50,000 adults out of relative poverty. Before the government's climbdown last week, it was predicted that the bill would put 250,000 people into poverty.

The guilty verdict of Erin Patterson in Australia leads the Metro's front page. It reports that the ex-husband of the "mushroom murderer" says she tried to poison him at least four times before the deadly dinner that killed his parents and aunt.