Legal highs to be banned in prisons
‘This landmark Bill will protect the public and prison population from these substances’
PRISONERS risk adding two years to their sentence if they are caught with so-called legal highs in custody, The
Daily Telegraph can reveal. Mike Penning, the policing minister, has made a last-minute addition to the Psychoactive Substances Bill to make it illegal to possess legal highs while behind bars. The tough new rules also apply to people visiting and working in prisons, including juvenile detention centres and immigration facilities.
The new crime of possession in pris- on will carry a two-year maximum penalty and comes after prison governors called on the Government to act to curb high levels of drug misuse in institutions.
It will not be an offence to possess the drugs outside prison, the minister confirmed, but it will be illegal to produce, sell and distribute the substances. Sellers caught distributing the drugs will face up to seven years in prison.
Mr Penning said: “Psychoactive substances are having an increasingly devastating impact in prisons. That is why the Government is acting decisively to ensure the safety of all staff, visitors and inmates. The landmark Psychoactive Substances Bill will fundamentally change the way we tackle psychoactive substances. It will protect the public – and prison population – from these potentially dangerous substances.”
The changes will form an amendment to the Psychoactive Substances Bill during the committee stage today, which bans the production, distribution, sale and supply of the drugs.
The drugs are popular at festivals and in clubs and bars and are thought to have been responsible for around 130 deaths in the last year and around 20 in prisons. Statistics published in July by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman identified 19 deaths in prison between April 2012 and September 2014 where the prisoner was known, or strongly suspected, to have been using psychoactive substances before their death.
John Attard, the national officer at the Prison Governors Association, said: “We’re delighted with the changes. Anything that helps tackle what is now a war on new psychoactive substances is a good thing. Everybody has got to get behind it now, including the police. The impact it’s having on prisons is enormous at the moment.”