Humber Prison: £500,000 worth of drugs seized in three months

HMP Humber was formed after a walkway was built in 2014 linking Wolds and Everthorpe prisons

Drugs worth an estimated £500,000 have been seized at an East Yorkshire prison in three months.

The Ministry of Justice said the contraband had been found at HMP Humber since October in intelligence-led searches.

A report published last year by HM Inspectorate of Prisons revealed the availability and use of illegal drugs were too high at the category C jail.

It opened in April 2015 after the merger of Wolds and Everthorpe prisons.

'Tough laws'

The Prison Service said: "Vigilant staff at HMP Humber have recovered a number of packages containing contraband over the past months following intelligence-led searches.

"We know drugs in prisons are an issue and we are taking unprecedented action to tackle their use by offenders.

"This includes mandatory drug testing for prisoners with extra time behind bars for those caught using banned substances, tough new laws to deal with people smuggling new psychoactive substances into jails and the increased use of sniffer dogs and cell searches across the estate.

"These measures alongside 2,500 extra frontline prison staff will help make prisons safer and cut reoffending."

HMP Humber, which holds 1,002 inmates, was created when a secure corridor was built in 2014 to connect Wolds and Everthorpe.

In February, inspectors found the merger was "traumatic and prolonged" and the jail was also deemed unsafe with a high number of assaults on staff.