Guys Marsh death prompts prison watchdog 'concern' over drugs

Ombudsman Sue McAllister said prisons were struggling to combat psychoactive substances

The number of inmate deaths related to psychoactive substances (PS) is an increasing concern, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) has said.

In a report on a death at HMP Guys Marsh in Dorset, PPO Sue McAllister said jails in England and Wales were struggling to deal with the problem.

She said Samuel Groves, 29, from the Isle of Wight, was a "regular user" of PS in prison before his death in 2018.

The Prison Service said it was unable to comment during the election period.

Four inmates died after taking drugs at HMP Guys Marsh in 2018

Mr Groves, also known as Samuel Benning, died in April 2018 from the combined effects of PS use and undiagnosed heart disease, the report said.

Ms McAllister said the death was one of four in four months at the jail, near Shaftesbury, in which drugs played a part.

She said: "I am increasingly concerned by the number of deaths my office investigates in which PS has played at least some part.

"Mr Groves' death is another example of how dangerous PS is and how prisons are struggling to reduce PS use."

The ombudsman said prisons were struggling to reduce the use of psychoactive substances

There were 117 deaths in prison between June 2013 and September 2018, where psychoactive substances were thought to have been involved, the Prison Reform Trust charity previously reported.

The percentage of positive random drug tests in jails has been increasing since 2015, according to the latest Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures.

In her latest annual report, the ombudsman said she hoped the government's Prison Drugs Strategy, published in April, would produce a "noticeable reduction in drug-related deaths in 2019-20".