INMATES GETTING HOLD OF DRUGS
“SPICE gets inside in loads of ways,” a source told us.
These include, it’s claimed, the drug being planted in tubs of protein powder or concealed in resealed Pot Noodles.
We put the allegation to Sodexo, who declined to give a direct answer.
In 2017/18 there were 537 drug seizures at Forest Bank – more than at any other prison in England and Wales.
Psychoactives – former legal highs such as Spice – were the most common find, being confiscated 203 times. Cannabis was found 140 times, cocaine 16 times and heroin four times.
It’s the third year in a row the Salford prison has had the highest number of drugs seizures. And there’s a human cost.
Jordan Higham, 20, who was on remand, spent weeks in intensive care after taking Spice and collapsing at the jail.
An image of Jordan battling for life in hospital was handed out to inmates in a bid to scare them off Spice.
At the time the Prison Service spoke of introducing mandatory drug testing, increasing sniffer dogs and cell searches across the whole prison estate and strengthening laws around new psychoactive substances.
Forest Bank has also distributed a leaflet among inmates, instructing them on the safest way to take drugs, if they ignored advice not to.
Prison bosses at the time said staff worked hard to keep drugs out but they have a duty of care to prisoners and, as such, provide advice and support.
But it’s not just drugs getting inside, it’s phones too.