Protecting Prisons from Contraband Smuggling and Escape Plots Demands Specialized C-UAS
American eCommerce giant Amazon launched its drone delivery program, Amazon Prime Air, in 2022. That service is operational in two US cities, with the UK and Italy expected to see it go live in 2024. But while drone deliveries are a new frontier in consumer purchases, criminals have been using this method of transport to send contraband to inmates for several years, and it’s a problem that jails and prisons around the world are dealing with more and more frequently.
Smuggling and surveillance modernized
As long as there have been prisons, there have been people finding new and inventive ways to smuggle contraband inside. From Hollywood’s favourite trope of smuggling files into jail cells in baked goods to melting drugs into artwork, combatting this problem is nothing new to law enforcement officers.
However, attack and infiltration by air is a newer and fast-evolving threat – especially as drones become cheaper, quieter, and can fly further.
Most prisons have elaborate security provisions on the ground – everything from razor wire, guards, security cameras, and more, but all of the space from the fence up has remained vulnerable to penetration by drones.
Generally speaking, drone use is growing at an exponential rate. A report from Research Dive estimates the global uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) – or uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) – market will hit US$102.5 billion in revenue by 2030. That includes commercial, consumer and military purchases. The use of drones can range from aerial photography, crop monitoring, journalism, cinematography, border security, tactical reconnaissance, and criminal applications.
For correctional facilities, the boom in the drone market has led to increased incidents of drones smuggling contraband or being used to survey potential escape options. Ad hoc incidents are becoming regular intrusions.
A proliferating global problem
From the United States to Europe and Australia, jails and prisons have reported altercations between prisons and drones since the mid-2000s.
Drones have been caught trying to drop off drugs, weapons, cell phones, cigarettes, pornography and weapons. Drones have also been documented hovering above prisons to perform escape route surveillance. Objects dropped by drones and gathered by inmates pose a serious threat to other inmates as well as prison staff.
Perhaps one of the first such incidents was in 2009 when a toy helicopter was used to make an ultimately unsuccessful drug drop in a UK prison. Two years later, staff at a Moscow prison confiscated 700 grams of heroin dropped by a drone. Western Australian prisons have been struggling with drone security as well. At Wooroloo Prison Farm, a minimum-security facility, accomplices used drones to deliver bundles of drugs to inmates at a housing pod repeatedly.
In 2015, a riot broke out over a package a drone dropped at Mansfield Correctional Institution, a prison in Ohio. Officials at the Mansfield prison only learned of the riot at their prison was spurned by a drone after the fact, when they reviewed surveillance video footage while investigating the fight. Only a few months later, a drone was discovered dropping mobile phones, drugs, hacksaw blades, and other materials into a prison in Oklahoma.
Historically, prison staff have always been vigilant about screening for contraband brought in by visitors, employees, and even mail deliveries. Although smugglers can get very creative, generally the countermeasures were straightforward and easy to implement.
Drones pose new difficulties. They can move quickly, hover, and make evasive manoeuvres. A remote pilot controls them from afar, which means the accomplice can more easily stay hidden and out of reach of prison officials – and escape if the drone is spotted.
DroneSentry-C2 command-and-control system
Counterdrone and C-UAS to protect prison intrusions
There are, however, many different countermeasures prison officials can take to combat intrusions by air depending on what the situation calls for.
In early 2024, the United Kingdom took the measure of introducing new laws in an attempt to deter criminals, including the creation of virtual no-fly zones within 400 metres around prison perimeters.
But criminals are cunning, and their determination combined with drone improvements means prisons need specialised counterdrone or counter-UAS (C-UAS) measures to effectively detect and stop UASs from coming near facilities.
These include:
Using drone detection sensors, such as DroneShield’s DroneSentry multi-sensor detection system, or DroneSentry-X cross-platform detection system, both enables with DroneShield’s latest DroneSentry-C2 command and control system. This way, prison officials receive advanced warnings of incoming drones and the direction from which they are coming, which enables them to observe the identity of the package recipient and conduct an internal investigation. They can also use this information to track drone pilots.
Tracking the drone back to its pilot (where lawful) – using DroneShield’s DroneGun jammer (in the RF-only mode) will trigger the drone to fly back to its point of origin, enabling pilot tracking.
DroneGun could also be used to bring drones out of the sky before they can drop their packages via a vertical controlled descent (when both RF and GPS functions are used).
With jammer deployment, prison authorities need to be aware of the legislation. For example, under the current US legislation, state and local authorities may not deploy jammers.
DroneShield’s detection sensors work by a proprietary system which separates drone sounds from background clutter using its Artificial Intelligence based software, and matches against threats, even potentially for new drones that the system has not previously seen. When a match is found, the system sends out an alert by text, email, or through an existing alarm system via an API.