A former senior officer has lifted the lid on what it is really like behind bars at some of Kent's most notorious prisons.

The Sheppey resident – who we are calling Dave – has had first-hand experience of working at the Island's Swaleside and Elmley.

He said the everyday running of the prisons has become “chaotic” and “will only get worse” if nothing is changed soon.

“In terms of violence, the prisons were much worse in 1992,” he said.

“Swaleside was even known as ‘Stab City’. The difference then, however, was that we had a lot of staff.

“Prisons basically multiply what’s going on in society but they don’t have the staff to deal with the situations today.

“If you look at schoolchildren not having respect for their teachers because they can’t do anything about their misbehaviour, prisons are exactly the same.

“The entire system is in favour of the prisoners now – the prisoners really are in control.”

Dave said a big issue at the moment is that Muslims are the predominant group in the prisons.

He said: “They’re running the place. Non-Muslim inmates are being bullied into converting to Islam and fear violent repercussions if they don’t go around to their way of thinking.”

Dave believes one the biggest problems is the lack of staff due to funding cuts and the prisoners using this to their advantage.

“Each prisoner knows how many staff are on duty,” he said.

“It’s bad in there. The staff need to regain control and the right managers need to be there to turn around and say ‘No, you can’t do this or that’.

“Over a period of time, they’ve just kept cutting staff numbers. Yes they have saved the Treasury a fortune but now they’re struggling to deal with the everyday running of the prisons.”

Dave said the day usually starts with managers running around trying to find enough staff to unlock prisoners.

“This is not a good start to the day,” he said.

“It upsets things right from the start.

“Staff will have certain jobs to do but, as is the norm now, they don’t have enough staff to even carry out basic everyday security checks known as ‘fabric checks’, whereby each cell and area must be checked each day and signed to say this has happened.”

He said the serving of meals could very often be a problem due to staff shortages, as well as daily visits.

“The one thing that senior managers do is ensure that visits takes place. They will do everything possible to make this happen, even leaving other areas dangerously short of staff,” he said.

Dave said the quality of staff is also an area that is lacking.

"The entire system is in favour of the prisoners now – they really are in control" - former senior prison officer 'Dave'

“When I joined, you couldn’t get a job at the prison until you were 21, now you can at 18.

“At 18, there is no way I could ever have worked in a prison. At 21 it was an eye-opener but I had a lot of staff around to help and support me.

“What the prisons need are experienced staff and to put control back with the staff before things get even worse.”

As well as the lack of staff, Dave said drugs are also a big issue at Sheppey’s prisons and that, he said, boils down to the use of drones and some times corruption.

Dave said although the prison service is a “scary place to work” and staff “don’t feel safe”, he does not regret having been a prison officer.

“It was a good job and I enjoyed it,” he said.

“There was always something different, but I don’t miss it one little bit.”