Jail drug finds double in 5yrs
..AND COCAINE UP TWENTYFOLD
COCAINE finds in prisons have jumped almost twentyfold in just five years.
Figures released by Prisons minister Vicky Atkins show that incidents of the drug in jails went up from 108 in 2016 to 2,083 last year.
And the number of occasions when drugs of any sort were discovered doubled from 9,621 to 20,295.
Finds of heroin went from 232 to 591, its substitute methadone soared more than three times, and three times the number of cannabis stashes were uncovered.
Experts put some of this down to more body scans for visitors and airport-style security to stop drugs getting in.
But the seizure figures kept on rising during the pandemic, despite more restrictive regimes to keep Covid out.
Andrew Nielson, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Keeping prisoners locked in their cells all day meant that people reported turning to drugs more to deal with boredom and frustration.
“The best way to tackle drug taking behind bars is to reduce demand in the first place.
“Staff time spent monitoring scanners would be better deployed in building relationships and making sure people are occupied with education, training, work and exercise.” The use of LSD also shot up by a factor of 16 in England and Wales.
In Scotland prison staff are combating that by photocopying inmates’ mail.
They have halved the number of overdoses since introducing the measure last month.
Officials discovered the most common way to smuggle psychoactive substances in is by spraying them on paper posted to prisoners.
Scottish Justice Secretary Keith Brown said prisoners welcomed the move. He added: “It leaves them less vulnerable to bullying to get them to provide drugs for others.”