Nearly a third of inmates at Shropshire prison tested positive for drugs, inspectors find

Nearly a third of prisoners tested positive for drugs at a Shropshire prison with "very high" levels of self-harm among inmates, a report has found.

A report from an unannounced inspection at HMP Stoke Heath near Market Drayton said that nearly 30 per cent of prisoners tested positive for drugs.

Gate security was weak, said inspector Charlie Taylor, which increased the risk of illicit drugs entering the prison.

"The governor, who had been in post for a year, had begun to address some deep cultural issues in a jail that needed to reorientate back to its function as a training prison," said Mr Taylor.

"She was aiming to get more prisoners into purposeful activity, but attendance was poor, with too many men choosing to remain on their wing rather than attend activity.

“Staff shortages meant that although the regime was reliably delivered, most men were only in part-time activity and too many continued to spend long periods of time locked up.

"The boredom that this created was, no doubt, one of the causes of high levels of drug taking at Stoke Heath, which led inevitably to debt and violence."

Stoke Heath is a category C prison and young offenders institution that, at the time of the inspection between February 23 and March 5, housed 741 men.

Mr Taylor said that, while there are fewer assaults at Stoke Heath than comparable prisons, some inmates were self-isolating for their own safety, and high rates of self-harm showed the extent of distress amongst a significant proportion of men.

The inspector went on to say there had been an improvement in the oversight of the category D unit, Clive House, since the last inspection, and hard-working staff in the offender management unit were active in helping prisoners reduce their risk.

However, parts of the prison were "dilapidated and scruffy", said Mr Taylor, who believed the E wing should be re-built.

"Some long-serving men were sharing small, cramped cells," he said.

"However, staff made sure that the prison was kept reasonably clean, and inspectors were impressed by well-tended, litter-free grounds."

Mr Taylor listed six "priority concerns" and six "key concerns" in his report.

He said there was not enough prison-wide work to address the reasons for the “very high levels of self-harm”, and leaders had not ensured that all prisoners had sufficient access to their allocated activities.

"Given the remote location and the long journeys undertaken by families, it was disappointing that visits did not start on time and that family days were not long enough," said Mr Taylor.

"Although our rating for safety had fallen from ‘good’ to ‘not sufficiently good’ I left the jail with some optimism that if the prison can do more to improve the amount of purposeful activity and reduce the ingress of drugs, then under the positive leadership of the governor and her senior team, Stoke Heath can flourish."

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Inspectors recognised the positive impact strong leadership has had at Stoke Heath, but the prison is still operating under immense pressure after this Government inherited a system in crisis.

“We took immediate action to address concerns including a new approach to clamp down on drugs and improving the mental health support prisoners receive.”