PRISON DRUGS CRISIS IS 'OUT OF CONTROL'

Prisons are in the grip of an uncontrollable drugs crisis, according
to a devastating report compiled by Britain's probation officers.

Their evidence flies in the face of Government claims that inmates are
using fewer drugs.

The shocking report says:

People being sent back to jail ask for specific prisons where they
know drugs are easy to get.

Drug dealers are actually breaking into jails to sell their
goods.

Governors fiddle the results of drug tests to show they are on top of
the problem.

Convicts buy "clean" urine samples from non-drug users to get them
through tests.

And the report by the National Association of Probation Officers -
Napo - concludes that heroin, cocaine and cannabis are "rife" in jails
with staff unable to control the supply.

Insiders quoted in the report accuse governors of doctoring the
figures of those failing tests to make it seem the problem is under
control.

Official figures from Prisons Minister David Hanson in March showed
that random positive drug tests had decreased by 64 per cent over
recent years. But a former prison governor told Napo that samples of
known users were often not sent for testing or were
contaminated.

"It was also reported that urine samples were regularly exchanged
between prisoners," the report says.

Prisoners in London often ask to be sent to Wandsworth Prison because
it has a better supply of drugs.

The report added: "Hostel staff say prisoners being recalled were
expressing a preference to be returned to Wandsworth because they were
able to get any drugs they wanted at the end of the corridor."

Prices of heroin, cocaine and marijuana are actually cheaper inside
jails than on the streets.

Brian Caton, General Secretary of the Prison Officers' Association,
said: "There is a huge drugs problem in prisons and the Government
have known that since they came into power.

Harry Fletcher from Napo said: "It's abundantly clear drugs are rife
inside jails."

But David Hanson said: "This report is remarkably illinformed.

All evidence points towards a huge reduction of drug use in prison."