Wardens trained in drug rescue

PRISON wardens are being trained to use ‘overdose kits’ to save the lives of inmates who take too much heroin.

With growing numbers of prisoners caught taking drugs in jail, guards have been taught to inject users with naloxone – the emergency antidote to opiates.

Staff at HMP Inverness were the first to learn how to administer the medicine in a trial project and the scheme is now being considered for inclusion across the whole prison estate.

New figures show 1,031 male prisoners were caught taking controlled substances in 2015-16. Numbers of inmates caught with drugs have more than doubled since 2012-13 when just 509 were found.

Last night Scottish Tory shadow justice secretary Douglas Ross said: ‘The rising numbers should serve as a warning to the SNP that more action needs to be taken to stop drugs getting into jail. Prison is meant to be a place where offenders can rehabilitate – there is very little chance of this happening while drugs are in circulation.’

Prison Officers Association Scotland chairman Phil Fairlie said: ‘Preservation of life is one of the things inherent in the role of a prison officer.’

While he admitted drugs are smuggled into jails on a ‘fairly regular basis’, he described the number of times their use could develop into a life-threatening situation as ‘tiny’.

An SPS spokesman insisted the introduction of naloxone training was not a response to any rise in opiate use but was part of a Scottish Government strategy tackling the issue.

He said: ‘Unfortunately a number of prisoners every year will overdose and if we can reduce the deaths from overdoses that’s a good thing.’