Prison's drug problem 'worst in England and Wales'

A cramped and overcrowded jail where more prisoners tested positive for drugs than any other in England and Wales will struggle to improve without investment, inspectors have said.

More than 75% of a group of 30 randomly-tested inmates at HMP Hindley recorded positive results for banned substances in April.

The rate was the highest recorded by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, which warned in a recent report the availability of drugs in the Wigan jail was a "critical threat".

Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, said "vital security infrastructure" was urgently needed to stop drugs entering the prison.

The government said it had a "zero-tolerance policy to drugs" in prisons.

The inspectors returned to the category C prison in August after a visit in December 2023 discovered inexperienced officers had been struggling to deal with a "tsunami" of drugs.

Many of the prisoners held there have links to organised crime and live in poor, overcrowded conditions, inspectors said.

About 59% of prisoners tested positive for drugs in the six months before the August review, higher than at the last inspection.

Reported violence had fallen but the smuggling of drugs into the site continued to be a "significant concern", with drones labelled an increasing risk.

The report found there was no adequate gate security technology to search staff and visitors, and prisons had used broken windows to smuggle in drugs.

A culture of "prisoner debt, bullying and fear" was fuelled by the influx of drugs, with efforts to tack the crisis having "minimal impact" so far, inspectors said.

Efforts to improve "dilapidated" cells in the 1960s-built prison had been hampered as the jail remained overcrowded due to "national population pressures".

Prison bosses have plans to build new accommodation by 2027, but inspectors said those on A to D wings would have to "persevere in small, cramped cells that were originally designed as borstal rooms" until then.

Mr Taylor said the prison governor and staff had worked hard to make improvements at the site in the last eight months.

But he added the lack of investment in all areas of the prison over the last decades meant the jail would "struggle to make significant improvements".

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the government had a "zero-tolerance policy to drugs" in prisons, which is why X-ray body scanners had been introduced across the prison estate.

"HMP Hindley is also working with the local police to reduce the number of illicit items including drugs from entering the prison," he added.

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