Drug problem in Hindley prison worst in England and Wales

At a cramped and overcrowded prison in England and Wales where more inmates have tested positive for drugs than any other prison in the world, it will be difficult to improve the situation without investment, inspectors said.

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

It was the highest rate ever recorded by the UK Prison Inspectorate, which warned in a recent report that the availability of drugs at Wigan Prison posed a “critical threat”.

Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, said there was an urgent need for “vital security infrastructure” to prevent drugs from being smuggled into prisons.

Inspectors returned to the Category C prison in August after finding, during a visit in December 2023, that inexperienced officers struggling with a “tsunami” of drugs.

Many of the inmates held there had links to organized crime and lived in poor and overcrowded conditions, inspectors said.

In the six months prior to the August inspection, approximately 59 percent of prisoners were drug tested, more than during the last inspection.

Although the number of reported violent crimes has decreased, drug smuggling into the area remains a “significant problem” and drones are seen as an increasing risk.

The report found that there was no adequate security technology at the gates to search staff and visitors, and that broken windows in prisons were being used to smuggle drugs.

The influx of drugs is fuelling a culture of “prisoner debt, harassment and fear” and efforts to contain the crisis have so far had “minimal impact”, inspectors said.

Efforts to renovate the “dilapidated” cells of the prison, built in the 1960s, failed due to the prison’s ongoing overcrowding caused by “national population pressure.”

Prison officials plan to build new accommodation by 2027, but inspectors said that until then, inmates in wings A to D will have to endure “small, cramped cells that were originally designed as youth detention facilities.”

Mr Taylor said the prison governor and staff had worked hard over the past eight months to make improvements on site.

However, he added that there had been a lack of investment in all areas of the prison over the past few decades and that the prison would therefore “struggle to make significant improvements”.

The Ministry of Justice was asked for a comment.