In the olden days getting stuff into prisons was risky and uncomfortable. You’d have to visit in person and put stuff up your butt, but thankfully those days are over. Because drones changed everything.
But now it seems too many people are smuggling contraband into prisons with drones, and one by one Australian states are cracking down.
Videos by VICE
In the latest example, a broken drone apparently carrying two pouches of 50g tobacco and a mobile phone was found on the roof of Goulburn Supermax on Sunday morning. The drone was found on the roof of a portable building that had recently been set up suggesting it hadn’t been there long. And all four items were handed to the police.
In total, three drones have been busted around NSW jails just this month. In late October some snitchy member of the public saw a drone disappear into the yard of the Lithgow Correctional Centre and called the police. The drone was later found to have been carrying around 400 steroid capsules.
Another drone was spotted by a staff member hovering around the roofs of Kempsey jail, six hours north. It’s unknown whether it had managed to deliver its payload beforehand.
So as mentioned, 2017 seems to have become a legislative turning point for drone smuggling. In May, Victoria enacted a law banning drones from flying within 120 metres above a prison. South Australia is currently looking to introduce similar legislation, and now, after this month’s shenanigans, NSW is considering the same.
“Drones are a threat to the safety and security of officers and the correctional system and I will be looking at what further safeguards can be put in place to further restrict the use of drones and other aircraft in the vicinity of prisons,” NSW Corrections Minister David Elliott told the Daily Telegraph.
So looks like the golden era of drone-delivered showbags could be coming to an end. And what a pain in the butt that is.
