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PRISON FOUL
Inside hellhole jail where drugs filmed being thrown into prison yard in burning socks as seven inmates die in months
Four of the deaths are being reviewed by the coroner
SEVEN men have died at a drug-infested prison in less than 18 months, it has been revealed.
HMP Forest Bank has reported that six men died between November 2022 and the end of October last year and a seventh man was reported dead by prison chiefs earlier this year.
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The Greater Manchester nick's Independent Monitoring Board said in its annual report into conditions at the privately-run 1,470 inmate facility: "There were, regrettably, six deaths in custody during the reporting period.
"Four of these are currently being reviewed by the coroner, two of which were, apparently, due to natural causes."
The IMB reported that incidents of self-harm had also increased, revealing: "Self-harm has increased by 13% over the reporting period compared with the previous year; however, 14% of all self-harm is directly related to prisoners seeking to disrupt transfers.
"Out of 956 incidents of self-harm, 543 have self-harmed more than once. Several prisoners have self-harmed consistently during their time in the prison over the reporting period."
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The body also noted that drugs were a common problem at the jail.
Inspectors found: "Various measures have been introduced to improve the overall security and good order of the prison.
The prison has installed additional netting over the exercise yards up to the roof, making it harder for associates of prisoners to throw over contraband from the adjoining parkland in which the prison sits.
"This follows the first set of measures taken of fitting new, improved windows, making it significantly harder for prisoners to retrieve ‘throwovers’. On occasion, the prison will undertake sniffer dog operations at times in conjunction with Greater Manchester Police.
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"The Board would like to commend the Director and the senior leadership team for the action taken to reduce the frequency of ‘throwovers’ and drones used to drop illicit items into the prison from outside.
";However, contraband and illicit items appear to still be entering the prison through other avenues."
The prison confirmed brief details of a fatality at the Salford jail in January and said there was to be an investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.
The deaths are the latest in a series of fatalities at the prison in recent years. They include Michael McDonagh , 27, who was found unresponsive in his cell in February 2019 and 63-year-old Raymond Lucy, who was found dead in his cell in July of that year.
In September, an inquest jury found Mr McDonagh, who was prescribed a 'combination of drugs' died after 'serious failings' in his care. He was prescribed a number of drugs that acted in combination to depress his central nervous system - including methadone.
SHAMELESS inmates used smuggled phones to shoot a rap video behind bars with prison officers nowhere to be seen.
Lags at the HMP Forest Bank in Salford, Manchester, shot the footage under the noses of guards before uploading it to YouTube.
The music video shows two prisoners at the privately-run prison mouthing lyrics in their cells and on the wing.
And the two-minute clip, featuring rappers called L1 Manny and Mazza L20, has racked up 178,000 views on YouTube.
The video's opening credits state the video was "filmed by all the mandem" and it starts with a message: "This music video was filmed on the wings".
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