SCANDAL OF JAIL ORDER DRUGS
96 letters laced with zombie dope seized at crisis-hit prison
LETTERS laced with zombie drug Spice were intercepted on 96 separate occasions at a scandal-hit jail in the past year, the Daily Record can reveal.
A crackdown has failed to stop gangs smuggling in the mind-bending substance to fuel a lucrative drugs racket at HMP Addiewell in West Lothian.
SEIZURES of letters laced with zombie drug Spice on 96 separate occasions in the past year at a Scots jail are just the tip of the iceberg, it was claimed yesterday.
Gangs are regularly trying to smuggle in the mind-bending drug to fuel a lucrative drugs racket at HMP Addiewell in West Lothian.
Police carried out a series of raids targeting dealers in April amid concerns cons were cashing in on poor staffing levels to flood the top-security jail with contraband.
But a crackdown hasn’t stopped inmates trying to smuggle in the psychotic substance.
A freedom of information request to private contractor Sodexo – which runs the jail – revealed contaminated mail was seized 96 times in the 12 months to September.
An insider at the jail said: “This is the tip of the iceberg. Far more gets in than that because they’re not intercepting every bit of mail.”
Our revelations come after a whistleblower told the Record the spread of psychoactive drugs was being “masked” in Scots jails as managers struggle to keep up.
In an effort to evade guards, the drugs dubbed New
Pyschotic Subtances – are smuggled in soaked into the letters.
A tiny scrap of the paper can then be burned in an e-cigarette, or vape and sold on for up to 10 times the street price.
But the super-strength substance is having a devastating effect – provoking shocking levels of violence or leaving users like “zombies”.
Cons running up crippling debts are being beaten or forced into humiliating acts if they fail to pay.
In some cases, dealers make them perform degrading acts just for a hit and film the shock antics on mobile phones.
In June, it emerged more than 1600 prisoners needed medical attention for NPS abuse.
And in some cases, officers who inadvertently inhale the fumes are being left needing hospital treatment.
At Addiewell, two officers were rushed to hospital after being exposed to NPS at the jail in 2017.
The source said: “So many cons are hooked on it and will do anything for a fix and dealers simply feed that demand by bringing it in.
“It comes in packages over walls, dropped off by drones or soaked into letters.
“The rewards are so big for dealers. They’re knocking it out for £100 a joint.
“And if the junkies don’t pay then the punishment dished out is pretty brutal.”
Last week, a senior officer told the Record how the difficulty in testing inmates meant incidents were sometimes marked as “unknown”.
The guard, who did not want to be identified, said: “At the moment, we’re masking the scale of the problem.
“It’s obvious what has been taken but we’re unable to record it as psychoactive.”
Addiewell has been hit by a catalogue of violence and drug abuse this year.
In July, two guards were suspended when a con was attacked in his cell after they forgot to lock his door.
And in April, three warders had their homes raided by cops probing a jail “drug-making factory”.
Asked about the 96 instances of Spice, Sodexo said all mail received by HMP Addiewell was checked by staff, drug detection dogs, X-ray machines and drug detection machines.