Drug use at jail still a concern, despite progress

Reporter DRUG use remains a concern at a troubled North East jail but action has been taken to improve it, a watchdog has found.

The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) raised concerns that inmates at HMP Northumberland were misusing substances, which can make them violent and put other prisoners and staff at risk.

The report said: “The main challenges for HMP Northumberland is maintaining prisoners’ safety from the interrelated problems of substance misuse and violence. These affect a prisoner‘s own health, his ability to control his behaviour towards fellow prisoners and staff and his need to maintain a supply of drugs.”

The report, which covered January 1 to December 31 last year, said more than 500 prisoners were receiving treatment for substance misuse.

It added: “Safety remains a concern but is receiving proper attention and progress is being made in HMP Northumberland is addressing drugs problem areas such as addressing the supply of illegal substances, dealing with incidents related to use of new psychoactive substances (NPS) and protecting those most at risk from bullying.” The prison, which has been managed by private company Sodexo since 2013, was praised for its work to tackle the problems. Sodexo spokesman The board said there had been a “considerable effort” to reduce levels of substance misuse in the prison and staff introduced “strengthened measures” to control drug use.

Staff were also praised for addressing the “historic under-investment” at the Acklington jail.

The report said, over the last three years, a significant investment had been made in the estate and equipment but several house blocks still needed to be improved.

A Sodexo spokesman said: “We welcome the comments of the report, which found progress is being made to address the supply of illegal substances and historic under-investment, and prisoners are being well prepared for release with an increasing number, variety and quality of work options. We are pleased the IMB found issues raised in the previous report had been addressed.

“We take on board comments about the continued refurbishment of the prison, caring for the increasing number of older prisoners and those with disabilities, and ensuring robust assessment of education and healthcare needs for new prisoners.”