Calls for urgent action after prison drugs deaths

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman can carry out independent investigations into deaths

More prisoners could die unless "urgent" action is taken, after four suspected drug deaths in a prison in six months, said an ombudsman.

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman said a report showed there were "significant amounts" of drugs in HMP The Mount in Bovingdon near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.

Two prisoners died from using psychoactive substances in July 2022, and two reportedly died from psychoactive substances in January 2023.

A prison service spokesperson said: "Since 2022 HMP The Mount has improved its drug strategy to crack down on the supply of illegal substances in the prison."

Tyrone Beresford, 31, died at HMP The Mount in July 2022 after overdosing on spice, a synthetic psychoactive drug made to mimic the effects of cannabis.

Mr Beresford, who had a history of drug and alcohol misuse, was transferred to The Mount in November 2019 for five years and six months' imprisonment.

Between December 2019 and October 2020, he was found to be under the influence of psychoactive substances seven times, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He later worked with a health and wellbeing worker and a therapist to help with anxiety and depression.

The ombudsman said the care he received was "not equivalent" to the care he would have received outside of prison.

Its report said "there were a number of indications that Mr Beresford was again active in prison drug culture" from December 2021, and "relatives of other prisoners were paying him money" in April 2022.

Mr Beresford was removed from his work in the prison kitchen on 12 July "after intelligence was received that he was using and conveying psychoactive substances".

Two days later after he was removed, he was found unresponsive in his cell.

There was no evidence he intended to take his own life.

'More prisoners will die there'

At the time of Mr Beresford's death, all forms of drug testing were said to have been suspended and only 50% of requested searches took place.

The ombudsman said prison management was not doing enough to reduce supply and demand, adding: "I am extremely concerned that unless more is urgently done to reduce drugs at the prison, more prisoners will die there.

"Ongoing staff shortages perpetually undermine the prison’s efforts to reduce supply and demand."

Since Mr Beresford and another prisoner died, extra measures to reduce supply and demand were put in place.

The report said these efforts were undermined by an ongoing lack of operational staff, meaning they were unable to run an effective drug testing programme.

The ombudsman also found that the first member of staff to find Mr Beresford in his cell did not call an emergency code, and it said the emergency response from officers was "poor".

A prison service spokesperson said: "Staff have also undergone renewed medical emergency training to reduce the likelihood of such an event happening again."