Paul Morgan-Bentley
The Times
Earlier this year he went undercover inside one of the country’s most dangerous prisons, HMP Bedford, to expose how Britain’s prison crisis has left jails critically insecure and unsafe.
Paul was hired by an agency without proper checks for a role which involved him wearing uniform and having keys to prisoner wings. At times he found no one manning security when he arrived at work, allowing staff and visitors to walk inside without any searches.
Knives were getting inside and drugs were smoked openly by prisoners. Paul found that criminals, drug traffickers and a neo-Nazi had bypassed vetting to work inside UK jails.
After leaving the job, he found and interviewed the family of Eddie Hands, an inmate who died at HMP Bedford when Paul was undercover. The family described how Eddie had a known heart condition and lifesaving medical equipment did not reach him despite repeated pleas for help.
Working with a whistleblower, he then exposed a vile WhatsApp group used by prison officers at HMP Wandsworth to celebrate the suicide of an inmate and joke about assaulting other prisoners.
Paul’s investigation was a key early moment in reporting the UK’s prison crisis, which had until then rarely been on the front pages but has since become one of the most urgent issues faced by the new government.
As a result of the findings, the then Justice Secretary ordered an investigation into prison staff vetting. This is ongoing and expected to lead to more thorough checks.
The investigation reached huge numbers of people as it was published in different ways for different audiences. As well as his written work - including bespoke design and visual graphics for digital - Paul’s video diary was hugely popular on social media and an accompanying podcast became the most listened to in the history of Times podcasts.
This year Paul also reported on legal changes to protect vulnerable people from energy firms force-fitting prepayment meters after he previously went undercover as a British Gas debt agent. After the regulator’s initial proposals left many still at risk, Paul’s reporting this year exposed ongoing vulnerabilities and pushed for more meaningful changes. As a result, energy firms are now banned from force-fitting the meters in the homes of millions of vulnerable people, including those with serious medical conditions, over-75s and families with children under two. Paul was also a central part of the reporting team behind The Times, Sunday Times and Dispatches investigation last year into Russell Brand’s treatment of women. Following the team’s initial reporting, Paul has since repeatedly had the exclusives on the Metropolitan Police’s criminal investigation, including when detectives have subsequently interviewed Brand under caution.