Ambulance call outs to Stoke Heath prison increase

West Midlands Ambulance Service sent paramedics to HMP Stoke Heath, near Market Drayton on 45 occasions last year.

This compared to 12 in 2012.

The figures obtained in a Freedom Of Information Act request also show how the figures spiked in 2014, with 77 call outs.

The Ministry of Justice said it was taking immediate action to tackle the drugs, drones and phones that undermine security.

It also said it had seen a large increase in the number of older prisoners.

On its prison estate across the country, it said it was investing £100m annually to boost the frontline by 2,500 officers.

A spokesman said: "We are committed to making prisons places of safety and reform and have a zero tolerance approach to violence.

“Ambulance call-outs are made by healthcare professionals when they identify risks.

"However, a significant number are for non-violent incidents, including where they attended as a precaution and when the situation was resolved by prison staff.

“Where violent incidents occur, we work closely with the police and Crown Prosecution Service to push for the strongest possible punishment – including additional time behind bars."

The figures also show an increase in call outs to HM Prison Drake Hall near Eccleshall. There were 29 call outs in 2012, 43 in 2014 and 36 last year.

West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman Jamie Arrowsmith said: “As a service we receive approximately 3,000 emergency 999 calls a day.

"Whether they come to us from a prison or anyone else, they are all treated in exactly the same way.”

It comes after it was revealed that inmates at Shropshire’s only prison were handed 5,717 days of additional jail time last year for breaking prison rules.

Research by the Howard League for Penal Reform revealed that prisoners at Stoke Heath prison were given more than 15 extra years on their sentences in 2016.

In 2015, inmates were given an additional 5,216 days for an average population of 755.

The charity, which works to reduce crime and campaigns for fewer people in jails, says prisons are resorting to “draconian punishments” in a bid to regain control.

The findings are published in Out of Control: Punishment in prison, the latest in a series of Howard League reports examining how prisons respond to misbehaviour.

In total, almost 290,000 days of additional imprisonment were handed down to prisoners across England and Wales last year - a 75 per cent increase in two years.