Legal highs and gang violence are a 'huge concern' at Winchester Prison - report

The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) described the men’s jail's progress as “encouraging," but "concerns still remain”.

It comes days after the Chronicle revealed how the use of so-called ‘legal highs’ has become so rife that three inmates were rushed to hospital in just one day after consuming a potentially deadly substance.

The inspection occurred before the recent spate of deaths which have seen five inmates die in custody since July.

Inspectors said in the report that staffing levels on some wings is “barely enough” to cover routine operations.

They noted that if any “substantial” incident or simultaneous incidents happened the system would not be able to cope – especially with so many recently-recruited and inexperienced staff.

Legal highs smuggled in to the prison have become a huge problem for staff and inmates.

This is backed up by the new report, which stated: “The IMB acknowledges the considerable external societal pressures which are reflected within the prison environment, including increased use of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) such as ‘spice’, and increasing violent behaviour in the community.”

The epidemic at the Romsey Road jailhouse was revealed last week as the Prison Officers Association warned he problem of new psychoactive substances readily available and used by prisoners nationwide is getting “out of control”.

At Winchester three inmates were taken to hospital on the same day in September after taking a toxic concoction known as ‘spice’.

The revelations came after Rev Graham Topping, a former chaplain at the jail, spoke out about how alleged bullying, secrecy and rock-bottom morale is affecting officers.

MORE: Chaplain slams 'appalling' conditions at Winchester Prison

Last year an IMB report revealed that gang culture is flourishing at the prison, and described the jail as “very much a work in progress”.

But this latest report found that violence has got worse.

It said: “There has been an increase in violent incidents and concerns about bullying in the last year or so, perhaps partly because of the intake of Young Adult Offenders.”

According to the report these changes have seen a “culture of competing gangs” and an increase in use of legal highs.

Inspectors said the prisoner complaints system has not worked well, as responses were out of time and at one stage attempts to follow up unresolved complaints were effectively abandoned.

However there have been improvements according to the report.

These include the security team; a ‘safeguarding’ initiative; prisoner information desks; a catering audit which achieved the highest grades; a project titled ‘Phoenix’ aimed at reducing reoffending by former members of the armed forces; and additional teaching staff in the education department.

IMB chairman John Tainton said: “We are encouraged by the progress being made, but there remains a multiplicity of testing issues which means no letting up on the substantial work in progress by prison staff.”

The prison is facing more challenges as it is now designated as a Complex Prison and takes on young adult offenders and is also a ‘resettlement prison’.

Speaking about the report, Winchester Steve Brine MP, pictured below, said: “The challenges we face across the secure estate right now are significant and Winchester is hardly immune from that.

“Being recognised as a ‘complex’ establishment was important because that, and the fact Winchester was a net-winner out of the benchmarking exercise, has brought staffing levels up.

“However, the relative inexperience of some new staff is rightly noted in the report as a concern.

“All of my experience tells me control and order are fundamental to prison life and the rampant use of New Psychoactive Substances is making that extremely difficult.

“That is just one reason why I have done so much work inside Government to get the new blanket ban legislation onto the statute book.

“I said in Parliament last week how this is desperately needed in Winchester as much as anywhere else and the IMB report clearly backs that up.”

Mr Brine added: “The wider point I would make is that, Winchester like every prison, has too many prisoners.

“Until we radically reform criminal justice policy, and focus on rehabilitation as much as punishment our institutions will continue to struggle and society will continue to pay the extortionate price of this widespread state failure.”