Troubled prisons to trial drugs clampdown

SIX TROUBLED Yorkshire prisons are among 10 sites selected for a new £10m blitz on drugs and violence.

Prisons Minister Rory Stewart said a surge in the use of Spice and other drugs was driving prisoners into “aggressive frenzies”, while prison guards needed more training to help them clamp down on poor behaviour by inmates.

He is today announcing a package of measures designed to ameliorate the “acute” problems with drug use and violence at the prisons, saying the pilot project would pave the way for a “new ethos” across the estate in England and Wales. The prisons selected for the programme include six in Yorkshire: Leeds, Hull, Humber, Wealstun, near Wetherby, and Lindholme and Moorland, both near Doncaster.

About £6m has been earmarked to provide body scanners, sniffer dogs and perimeter security improvements in an attempt to stop drugs being flown in by drones or thrown over walls.

There will also be leadership training programmes for governors and prison staff.

Mr Stewart said: “It is not easy, for example, to know what to do if a prisoner swaggers up to you on a busy landing and swears at you. I recently witnessed an officer who chose to simply ignore it, telling me that the prisoner had a troubled past. But, if we are serious about getting on top of violence, we need to train new officers on how to challenge such behaviour.”

Richard Burgon, Shadow Justice Secretary and East Leeds MP, said the Government needed to go “much further” and set out an emergency plan for the whole prisons estate.