Prison Letters Soaked in Drugs

Wardens were photocopying legal documents being delivered to prisoners due to fears that the paper had been soaked in drugs.

One method of drug smuggling into prisons involved prisoners getting people on the outside to spray drugs on their letters.

In order to crack down on this method, prison officers began opening mail and making photocopies to pass along.

An Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) report showed that Spice, a synthetic cannabinoid previously sold as a legal high, was being sprayed on fake legal letters.

The paper absorbed the drug and was later used when smoking.

The Category C prison, HMP Wealstun, located in West Yorkshire and housing over 800 male inmates at the time, was the subject of an IMB report which found that healthcare staff attended to inmates showing the effects of psychoactive drugs such as Spice around 10 times daily during the reporting period.

Presumptive Drug Test Kits for Prisons

Psychoactive drugs were a serious issue in the prison, contributing to physical violence and causing the hospitalisation of prisoners and staff. Drug identification tests for Spice may help identify certain synthetic cannabinoids, although the substances detected depend on the specific test and its limitations. Drug identification tests for cannabis are also used, as well as general screening tests for drugs which can screen for multiple substances, depending on the product.

Drug identification tests are also known as Presumptive Drug Test Kits. These provide preliminary indications rather than definitive identification, and suspected positive results may require laboratory confirmation.

Over The Wall

Many illegal drugs were also thrown over prison fences. This could be a challenging issue to solve because of the long perimeter.

If an incoming letter was suspected of being soaked in drugs, it could be photocopied rather than passed directly to the prisoner.

There was a significant surge in attacks on prisoners as well as staff members compared with the previous reporting year, which the Board believed was a result of the rise in drug use along with the frustration prisoners experienced when routines were restricted because of staff shortages.

The primary causes of attacks were arguments, difficulties with staff, retaliation and unpaid debt.

Public Health England warned at the time that the proportion of prisoners testing positive for Spice was twice as high on leaving prison as on entering.

Spice became notorious for its association with people appearing severely intoxicated or unresponsive in public places. It was also relatively cheap for prisoners.

Statistics reported by Public Health England from prisoners in the North West showed that 16% tested positive at the end of their sentence, compared with 8% at the beginning. These were historical findings and should not be treated as current figures.

At the time, adult male prisons were facing significant difficulties as a result of Spice. Synthetic cannabinoids can produce effects that are considerably more potent and unpredictable than those of cannabis, although their strength and composition vary widely.

The danger lies in the combination of widespread availability, high and fluctuating potency, and unpredictable effects. In a confined setting such as a prison, these problems can be especially difficult to manage.

Photo credit: Wormwood Scrubs by amandabhslater, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Retain this credit if the original photograph is still used.

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