Wandsworth Prison spike in assaults from 'Spice' drug smuggled in through fake lawyers' letters

The report revealed assaults by Wandsworth prisoners on staff rose to 467, compared with 173 a year earlier
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Criminals are using bogus lawyers’ letters to smuggle the psychoactive drug Spice into London’s largest prison in a trend that is fuelling violence, a watchdog warned today.

The Independent Monitoring Board for Wandsworth Prison warned that convicts were now receiving deliveries hidden in “mail marked as legal correspondence” as drug suppliers with “fertile minds” sought new ways to beat security.

In some cases, the Spice was being smeared on paper, photographs and even stamps on letters sent to inmates by associates pretending to be solicitors protected by the rules of legal privilege.

The disclosure came as the watchdog’s annual report warned of rising drug use inside the prison and a startling 147 per cent increase in the number of assaults.

The board said that other problems included a failure by the privatised probation company working in the jail to help released inmates find jobs and accommodation despite the “vital” role that this could play in preventing re-offending.

It also expressed concern about the prolonged detention of “severely mentally ill prisoners” inside Wandsworth because of a lack of secure psychiatric hospital beds to which they could be transferred.

The most striking alert, however, was over the use of legal correspondence, which is normally exempt from examination by prison officers under confidentiality rules, to smuggle illicit contraband into the jail.

“There were occasions when the legal mail system was being used for the importation of drugs,” today’s report warns. “New psychoactive substances, commonly known as Spice, were being smuggled in via prisoner mail marked as legal correspondence. These illegal contents were discovered by prison sniffer dogs.”

Elizabeth Baker, the independent monitoring board’s chairwoman, said that the drug smugglers appeared to be “bogus solicitors, people masquerading as lawyers” and were resorting to the tactic because of intensified efforts to close other routes into the prison.

“Spice is a very difficult drug to identify ... The prison staff are very much aware of this and checking letters much more, but people always find new ways of doing things. Their minds are very fertile. Things are still coming in.”

Ms Baker added that staff now had a list of authorised solicitors whose correspondence should not be checked, but were examining other correspondence which claimed to be from a lawyer.

Today’s report, which covers the 12 months to the end of May, says that assaults by prisoners on staff rose to 467, compared with 173 a year earlier. Attacks by one inmate on another also more than doubled, from 140 to 307.

Wandsworth, which was built in 1851, holds around 1,350 prisoners of whom 60 per cent are British.

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