Why Drone Dome Technology Could Be the Best £204 Million the UK Prison System Ever Spends!!
As the UK grapples with growing security challenges inside its prisons, one solution stands out for its potential to dramatically reduce crime, violence and contraband: the adoption of Drone Dome counter-drone technology. Although the system would require an estimated £204 million investment to deploy nationwide, the benefits—both immediate and long-term—could far outweigh the cost.
Illicit drone activity has surged in recent years, with organised crime groups using increasingly sophisticated unmanned aircraft to deliver drugs, weapons and mobile phones directly into exercise yards and cell windows. These deliveries fuel violence, addiction, debt networks and corruption, placing enormous strain on prison officers and destabilising already stretched institutions.
Drone Dome offers a proven technological shield against this growing threat. The system uses a blend of radar, radio-frequency sensors and high-resolution cameras to detect drones long before they reach prison airspace. It can then neutralise them safely, either by jamming their control signals or taking over their navigation.
For prisons currently relying on watchtowers, patrols and luck to spot tiny, near-silent quadcopters, this represents a major leap forward.
Critics may balk at the £204 million price tag, however we spend £108 million pound a month paying hotels for asylum seekers to live in hotels, whilst infact with the crisis in our jails in immediate & the cost of doing nothing may be far higher, at a cost per drone dome per jail of 1.7million it would cost £204million to complete the hmp prisons drone dome project, accross the 120 prison facilties.
This includes potentialy reduce the supply of drugs, so substantially that they could actually try to start rehabilitiating people, after hundruds of years of trying.
350 Deaths occour in prisons in england and wales a year and rising at present.
A very successful drone drop introduces more drugs, more violence and more pressures on the prison workforce. The NHS spends millions each year responding to drug-related medical emergencies inside prisons. The police and courts spend even more prosecuting crimes that originate behind bars. The knock-on financial burden on taxpayers is immense.
The introduction of advanced counter-drone systems could also support rehabilitation efforts by reducing the chaos and instability caused by contraband markets. Fewer illegal deliveries mean fewer debts, fewer gang-related disputes, and a safer environment in which education and reform programmes can actually succeed.
Importantly, adopting Drone Dome technology is not about militarising prisons. It is about using smart, targeted tools to address a threat that criminal gangs have already embraced. Just as prisons adopted body scanners, CCTV and anti-phone technologies to keep up with evolving criminal methods, counter-drone systems represent the next logical step in modern security.
The only drone system installed in the uk is at gurnsley prison where in 2017, 1.7m was invested into the dome and its been a huge success.
While the Ministry of Justice has not announced plans to pursue Drone Dome technology into mass circulation throughout the uk prison estate, the arguments for doing so are compelling.
For £204 million—a fraction of what the justice system spends annually dealing with the fallout of prison crime—the UK could shut down one of the most dangerous supply routes exploited by organised criminals.
In the battle to keep prisons safe, stable and focused on rehabilitation, Drone Dome could be the investment that pays for itself many times over.
HMP Prisons Justice Group 