US EditionDangerous Culture of Accepting Drugs Crisis in Prisons Must Be Broken – MPs
MPs say almost 40% of inmates find drugs easy to obtain amid 1,140% rise in drone sightings delivering contraband in England and Wales prisons.
- On Friday, the House of Commons justice committee published a report warning safety in prisons in England and Wales is being 'critically undermined' by a drugs crisis with 136 drug-related deaths between December 2022 and 2024.
- The committee found profitable supply networks and a prison 'menu of drugs'—with illicit items fetching up to 100 times their street value—drive drug use in prisons, with 26,348 incidents reported in 12 months to March 2025.
- Prison inspections found inmates coerced into testing new substances as 'guinea pigs', with nitazenes linked to four deaths at HMP Parc in 2024 and prison staff falling ill from accidental exposure.
- The Ministry of Justice announced a £900,000 cash boost in July to tackle drones, on top of £40m already spent on security measures, while MPs urged urgent drone countermeasures like 'Sky Fence' and drug testing reforms.
- Without urgent reform addressing supply networks, treatment gaps and poor estate conditions, the committee warned prisons will remain unstable and unsafe, while MPs flagged drones as an 'extremely serious threat' delivering drugs and weapons.
29 Articles
29 Articles
Dangerous Culture of Accepting Drugs Crisis in Prisons Must Be Broken – MPs
There is a dangerous culture of acceptance that must be broken over the “endemic levels” of drugs in prisons that endanger lives, a committee of MPs has warned. Some 39% of prisoners find it easy to get drugs – and the use and trade of drugs are crippling the HM Prisons and Probation Service’s (HMPPS) ability to keep control and rehabilitate offenders, according to the Justice Committee. A report published on Friday warned of the “unacceptable” …
Drug use in prisons hits 'endemic' levels, damning report finds - The Mirror
A Justice Committee report claimed a 'dangerous culture' of acceptance is now rife inside British jails, and that the ability of staff to maintain control is being 'critically undermined'
A group of MPs claim there's a dangerous culture of acceptance over the 'endemic levels' of drugs in prisons in England and Wales.
The Justice Committee's warning it's 'crippling' efforts to rehabilitate inmates. It's also criticised the human cost, with 16 percent of more than 8-hundred deaths investigated between December 2022 and 2024 being substance-related. Drones have been used to smuggle drugs into HMP Wandsworth. This man lives near HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire, where criminal gangs are doing the same. https://audioboom.com/posts/8798287-this-man-lives-near-hmp…
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