We can’t stop zombie drugs getting into open prison, inquiry told

PRISON bosses cannot keep dangerous ‘zombie drugs’ out of a controversial open jail, an inquiry into the death of an inmate was told.

A solicitor acting on behalf of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said the nature of Castle Huntly means smugglers of new psychoactive substances (NPS) can infiltrate security ‘in different manners’.

SPS solicitor Ross Fairweather said that while a drug detector called ‘RapiScan’ had been introduced at other Scottish jails effectively, it would not be useful at Castle Huntly, near Dundee.

The confession came during a fatal accident inquiry into the death of inmate Kevin Sloan, who died at the prison after taking NPS and heroin in February 2016.

Speaking at the inquiry in Perth, Mr Fairweather said: ‘The machines are designed to detect illicit substances on certain articles, such as clothing or mail. One thing they can detect is new psychoactive substances.

‘It is the intention of the SPS to introduce these machines throughout the prison estate, but not to introduce such a machine into Castle Huntly.

‘NPS are introduced into most prisons by soaking mail in the substance. In closed prison conditions the machine would be put to effective use to detect it, but in Castle Huntly that particular method of introducing drugs is not the common practice.

‘Owing to it being an open prison, drugs can be entered into Castle Huntly in

‘Extremely risky for the individual’

different manners, which would not be detected by the machine.’

The inquiry was told that armed robber Sloan was killed by the synthetic cannabinoid, which was found in his system during a post-mortem examination.

Sheriff Pino di Emidio found the installation of the RapiScan machine would not have had a practical impact on the situation which led to the death.

Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘The SNP’s failure to properly resource the SPS is having a highly detrimental effect on the operational capability of prison officers.

‘Thanks to the UK Government, the SNP now has extra money to spend on prisons. It must invest that extra funding and stop any further tragedies.’

Sloan, 31, was found to have died on February 27, 2016 as a result of taking a combination of heroin and AKB48-N15 (hydroxypentyl).

A spokesman for the SPS said: ‘We do realise that there’s an issue with these new psychoactive substances.

‘Part of the problem is that there is not a general understanding in the [prison] community of how dangerous these substances can be and how taking them can be extremely risky for the individual.’

The inquiry continues.