Lags entering prison to be given drug test in bid to clean up epidemic in Britain’s jails
Plans to build new prisons and extend current ones with new blocks are also likely to be revealed
JUSTICE Secretary Liz Truss plans to introduce mandatory drug tests on lags entering prison as part of an all-out blitz on the epidemic sweeping Britain’s jails, the Sun can reveal.
New tests are to be rolled out across the board under proposals contained in a prison reform White Paper due to be unveiled on Thursday.
The Ministry of Justice also wants to test criminals when they leave prison – to find out which Governors are doing best at helping them kick the habit.
Currently prisoners only face random checks when they are locked up for the first time.
But prison chiefs are demanding tougher action given the explosion in drug use behind bars – fuelled by so-called legal highs such as Spice and Black Mamba.
Shock figures last year revealed an alarming rise in the number of illegal drug seizures – rising from 3,800 in 2010-2011 to more than 4,500 in 2013-2014.
Meanwhile the number of ambulance call outs to prisons last year soared 40 per cent to an astonishing 7,811.
Sources claimed the drug crackdown was just one part of a far-reaching package of measures to be announced by Ms Truss.
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Speaking in the Commons yesterday the Justice Secretary said she also planned a hiring push to relieve the pressure on over-stretched prison guards.
Insiders said she was also likely to announce plans to build new prisons and also extend current ones by building new blocks.
Campaigners last night warned mandatory drug tests could prove an expensive flop.
Andrew Neilson of the Howard League for Penal Reform said: “It’s a bad idea that is going to cost a lot of money and won’t on its own be effective in tackling the problem.
“At the moment there are spot checks in prisons and they have done nothing to check the rise in use of legal highs.”
Former PM David Cameron in the Queen’s Speech earlier this year promised the biggest shake-up of the UK’s prison system for a generation.
Building on proposals from ex-Justice Secretary Michael Gove he vowed governors would be given unprecedented freedoms to run their jails – including setting budgets and education programmes.
Mr Gove also wanted to award more ‘privileges’ to prisoners who take up work, Maths and English behind bars in a bid to slash sky-high reoffending rates.
The MoJ declined to comment last night.