Rioting prisoners using legal highs

Police, ambulances and fire crews were called to a prison riot involving between 30 and 60 prisoners at HMP Ranby last weekend. Just last week a report declared that the prison was in crisis.

The disturbance lasted for more than eight hours on Saturday and at one stage the prisoners started a fire. Damage was sustained, although only minor. There were no injuries to either staff or prisoners.

The cause of the riot is not known at present, but the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has declared that this was a serious incident in which 120 prisoners refused to return to their cells.

Self-inflicted deaths

The damning report was published following an 11-day inspection of the prison, which was triggered after two prisoners died through “self-inflicted deaths” in 2013. Another two prisoners have died under similar circumstances since the report was published.

The report found that at the prison, which houses over 1,000 men, the availability of legal high drugs has increased. Although the nature of the self-inflicted deaths is not known, it is known that many legal highs cause serious mental health problems that can lead to temporary insanity, depression and psychosis.

The prison has suffered from staff cuts, with Labour MP John Mann stating: “It is a prison where, for quite a time, it’s been clear prisoners have been running the prison. There are not the numbers or the expertise among the staff to deal with it. The governors were warned, the government was warned, by me and by many others, that this would lead to disaster. I have raised this directly with the prisons minister more than once.”

Legal highs are a growing problem that is affecting all parts of society, with few users seeming to understand the risks.