Chief coroner asked to investigate prison deaths associated with legal highs

A letter has been sent to the chief coroner for England and Wales asking for an investigation to be launched into the links between legal high drugs and the deaths of prison inmates.

The letter, which was written by the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), was shown to the BBC. The POA claims that there has been a stark increase in the number of deaths in prison and that this has been caused by the presence of legal high drugs. It also blames the substances for an increase in violence in prisons and attacks on prison officers.

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) published a report in July revealing that legal high drugs had been a factor in a minimum of 19 deaths of prisoners throughout the country between 2012 and 2014.

Mark Fairhurst, an HMP Liverpool prison officer, claimed that staff believe one fatality in the prison was caused by Spice, which can cost more than heroin inside prisons. He explained: “We just don’t know how prisoners are going to react when they take it. It’s so unpredictable. Some prisoners are extremely violent … some prisoners become unconscious with breathing difficulties, some seriously self-harm.”

Favourite legal high drugs among prisoners include Black Mamba and Spice, with the latter thought to be 100 times more potent than cannabis. Legal highs, which can cause psychosis, seizures and suicidal actions, are currently not picked up in routine tests for drugs in prisons.