Prisoners detained longer for taking legal highs

Prison inmates who take legal high drugs will be punished with longer prison terms and denied certain privileges as the government attempts to crack down on the substances.

Government ministers have become concerned about the use of legal high drugs in the country’s prisons, which have led to increased levels of violence and disruptive behaviour. The justice secretary, Chris Grayling, has drawn up new plans that will allow prison governors to test prisoners for consumption of both legal high drugs and illegal substances.

The new plans also include the banning of physical contact with family during visits for anyone suspected of smuggling legal highs into the prison, an additional 42 days on their prison sentence and solitary confinement in their cell for up to 21 days.

Mr Grayling said: “Go onto any prison wing and staff will tell you that whilst we’ve made good headway on drug misuse in prisons, there’s a new phenomenon they are increasingly seeing in the form of so-called ‘legal highs’. What we’re also hearing is that these substances seem to be part of the problem around increasing violence in our prison estate.”

A legal high drug in great demand by prisoners is known as Spice. This substance allegedly causes people who smoke it to act unpredictably and violently. So popular is this drug that prisoners are mounting up debts to its suppliers that they are unable to repay, leading to bullying and violence.