Prison rocked by 'tsunami of drugs'

INEXPERIENCED prison officers at a jail have been struggling to deal with a 'near-tsunami' of drugs, inspectors have found.

- DAMON WILKINSON

Tests found that more than half the inmates at HMP Hindley in Wigan 'were on drugs at any one time! The jail also faces ongoing problems with 'very high' levels of violence, selfharm and links to organised crime. In a damning report HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said HMP Hindley faces an 'uphill battle' and that overall was 'still not safe enough! Mr Taylor said: "Hindley is facing an uphill battle: many prisoners arriving at the jail had an existing drug problem, and a large minority had known links to organised crime, so it's unsurprising that the prison had a near-tsunami of drugs. The situation was so bad that mandatory drug testing found more than half of prisoners were on drugs at any one time.