𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Too many drugs are getting into prisons and putting inmates or staff in danger, the Ministry of Justice has admitted. It follows warnings that prison officers are dealing with “unpredictable and violent behaviour” linked to drug use in prison, risk injuries from contaminated needles and are becoming ill from the effects of drugs used by prisoners.

Prisons officer William Timpson, a Labour members of the House of Lords and former businessman, said: “Drugs in prisons present both immediate threats, and long-term challenges to our ability to rehabilitate prisoners.” He told a Committee of MPs: “We recognise that drug use in prisons is too high and share the Committee’s concern about the risks this poses, both to safety and to our efforts to reduce reoffending.”

But he admitted: “Further work is needed to ensure our prison workforce is equipped with the skills and knowledge required to support recovery and reduce drug-related harm.”

It comes after watchdog the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman found 136 deaths of people in detention over two years were drug-related.

Random drug tests found 30% of prisoners had recently used drugs, with the figure reaching 59% in Hindley, a prison and young offender institution near Wigan,

The trade in prisons is highly lucrative, with drugs selling for up to 100 times their street value. But it contributes to growing levels of violence, and there were 31,268 assaults in prisons in the 12 months to June 2025, up by 8 percent from the year previously.

An inquiry by the Commons Justice Committee highlighted the growing use of drones to smuggle drugs into prisons. Responding to the Minister’s comments, Committee chair Andy Slaughter said: “Further immediate measures are needed to address and reduce the underlying demand for drugs and combat the alarming rise in the use of sophisticated drone technology.

“Without such reform and investment that tackles the profitable supply networks, the discrepancies in treatment provision and purposeful activity, plus the poor condition of the estate and serious capacity pressures, prisons will remain unstable, unsafe and incapable of gaining control over the drugs crisis.”

A survey by the Joint Unions in Prisons Alliance also found that more than half of prison staff had been exposed to drug taken by prisoners known as new psychoactive substances, such as spice and similar products, with more than a third reporting becoming unwell from effects such as dizziness, confusion, nausea, and paranoia.