Midlands prison drug seizures triple in 12 months
The number of drug seizures in prisons in the West Midlands and Staffordshire almost trebled in the space of a year, it can be revealed.
Latest figures relating to four prisons show the total number of drug confiscations rose from 47 to 132 between November 2011 and October 2012. At HMP Oakwood, there were 13 drug seizures in the space of just six months. Meanwhile, HMP Featherstone alone saw 66 cases in 2012 – almost twice the number of the previous year. Drug seizures at HMYOI Brinsford almost tripled over the same period from nine to 24, while at Winson Green there were 30 cases.
Karen Royster, spokesperson for the National Offender Management Service, said: "We take the illicit use of drugs in prisons, and the problems they cause, very seriously.
"We work hard to keep contraband out of prisons and use a range of security measures."
She said the strategy had led to a 17 per cent fall in cases of drug misuse in UK prisons in the last 14 years.
