Prison raid 'unjustified'

Former prisoners and staff gave evidence

A late-night raid on a prison described as a "model jail" has been condemned as over the top and unjustified, by a group of MPs.

A squad of 84 officers from other prisons carried out the search on Blantyre House in Kent, causing more than £6,000 damage. It cost £20,642 to carry out.

Doors were smashed in, including those of the prison chapel and health centre, and one searcher daubed graffiti on a board.

We were completely unconvinced that the search was a proportionate response

MPs' report

The report, by a cross-party group of MPs, accused the Director General of the Prison Service, Martin Narey, of misleading MPs and the public.

He claimed earlier this year that the search had turned up a "quite frightening amount of contraband," the report says.

But the team who stormed the prison on 5 May only found a small quantity of cannabis, three ecstasy pills and a few items of pornography.

Blantyre House is one of three resettlement prisons in the UK.

Governor removed

Just hours before the search, prison governor Eoin McLennan-Murray had been removed from his post.

The committee has spent months gathering evidence about the raid, which was ordered by Mr Narey after he received intelligence about possible serious security breaches by prisoners.

The MPs' report says the evidence Mr Narey received was not "persuasive".

Martin Narey: Accused of misleading the public

"We were completely unconvinced that the search was a proportionate response to the intelligence which has been used to justify it," the report reads.

It also criticises area manager Tom Murtagh.

The committee heard from former prisoners and staff, who claimed the raid was an act of revenge against a governor who had been thought to be running too soft a regime.

The report says it was "frankly difficult to believe" that Mr Murtagh was fully committed to resettlement as practised at Blantyre.

MPs heard that Prisons Minister Paul Boateng was also told of the raid.

The committee report said it was not for him to call off a search of this kind.

Regaining trust

But it said he could have questioned this decision, and asked for further reasons for the need for such drastic action.

The MPs said they found it "difficult to believe" that Home Secretary Jack Straw was not aware of the impending search when he wrote to the committee in April on the subject of Blantyre House's future as a resettlement prison.

Paul Boateng: Not for him to call off the search

If he was aware, then his letter "is less than complete", the report suggests.

The chairman of the committee, Labour MP Robin Corbett, said the Prison Service must dedicate itself to regaining the trust which was destroyed at Blantyre.

"The search was a failure, aggravated by unnecessary damage," he said.

"The emphasis must now be placed on regaining the trust which underpinned Blantyre House's resettlement ethos."