Drug smuggling arrests up at Shropshire's Stoke Heath Prison

Figures from West Mercia Police reveal that 11 people were arrested for the offences at Stoke Heath Prison, near Market Drayton, last year – compare with the zero arrested in the previous year.

In addition there were three people arrested in 2013/14, four people arrested in 2012/13 and one in 2011/12.

The number of people charged for smuggling, or attempting to smuggle drugs into Stoke Heath Prison has also increased.

In 2011/12 one person was charged, in 2012/13 one person was charged, in 2013/14 two people were charged, in 2014/15 one person was charged and last year seven people were charged.

The issue of illegal drugs and phones being smuggled into prison is a growing problem for the prison service.

Checks on visitors to Stoke Heath have been increased this year in a bid to tackle the growing problem of drugs in prisons.

The operation was carried out by officers from the prison, police and officers from the National Crime Agency.

Constable Mick Sturland, of the Market Drayton Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: “Together with prison management and colleagues from other enforcement agencies, we will continue the drive to identify those responsible for bringing illegal substances into the prison.”

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Moxley said “Our Officers are working proactively with prison staff at Stoke Heath to tackle the illegal supply of drugs and contraband into the prison. A rise in arrests therefore demonstrates the success we are having.

"Work is ongoing but the arrests are preventing drugs and contraband entering the prison, and help to deter others from attempting to do likewise. The impact of such operations continues to make the prison establishment safer for prisoners and staff alike."

This week Michael Bona, 32, of Prestatyn, Wales appeared in court after he was caught red-handed trying to smuggle a drug linked to psychosis and a mobile phone into Stoke Heath Prison.

Bona had travelled to the site on December 12 to visit the inmate when he was put under observation by the staff.

The pair were seen to exchange the shoes they were wearing and when the inmate’s shoes were checked later the bottoms contained packages stuffed with eight tablets, a substance weighing about 200grams, a mobile phone and two sim cards.

Bona, of Prestatyn, Wales, admitted an offence of knowing a person to be a prisoner and giving him a mobile phone and an offence of giving a prisoner a prohibited article, namely methyl.

His case has been transferred to Shrewsbury Crown Court where it will next be heard in the coming weeks.

Earlier this year prisoner Thomas Sidwell, 31, who also was caught with a mobile phone and two SIM cards at the Shropshire jail and was kept locked up for a further four months after admitting possession of the prohibited items on June 28 last year while he was serving a custodial sentence.

The prison officers noticed him putting a small package into his mouth and when he spat it out they saw that it contained two SIM cards. While the phone wrapped in cling film was recovered following a body search.

The magistrates handed Sidwell, of Solihull, a four-month prison sentence, saying they had reduced the term because of his guilty plea.

Another inmate Mohsin Ali, 21, of Birmingham, was jailed for nine months after admitting a similar offence last year when officers at Stoke Heath used detection equipment which produced a signal from his cell.

It comes months after reports that Featherstone prison was rife with drugs and violence and that prisoners were locking themselves up for months on end to escape it all.

An unannounced inspection by the prison inspectorate has laid bare the failings of the prison, with ‘very high’ levels of violence and ‘widespread’ drug use.

Peter Clarke, the chief inspector of prisons, said there had been a ‘shocking worsening in standards’ at the South Staffordshire jail since it was last inspected in 2013.