'Drugs crisis in prisons now at epidemic levels'

HERE is a dangerous culture of acceptance that must be broken over the “endemic levels” of drugs in prisons that endanger lives, a committee of MPs has warned.

- ANAHITA HOSSEIN-POUR

Some 39% of prisoners find it easy to get drugs - and the use and trade of drugs are crippling the HM Prisons and Probation Service’s (HMPPS) ability to keep control and rehabilitate offenders, according to the Justice Committee.

A report published today warned of the “unacceptable” human cost of the crisis, with 16% of 833 deaths investigated between December 2022 and 2024 being determined as drugs-related by the prisons ombudsman.

MPs heard that inmates in debt were being forced to test new drugs, sometimes for the entertainment of other prisoners, while staff becoming desensitised to daily suffering was a sign of a “failed system’.

The report found 11% of men and 19% of women said they had developed a problem with drugs, alcohol or nonprescription medication since arriving in prison.

Its findings come as ministers dealt with the fallout of a jail blunder this week after Epping migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu was accidentally freed from prison instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre last Friday.

The mistake was described by chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor as symptomatic of the chaos within the prisons system.