Drug dealers are “operating with impunity” in Britain’s prisons, a watchdog has warned, as new figures show drug-related deaths have soared to a record high.
Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, has hit out at the “dreadful” death toll from the prison drugs crisis as he called for urgent action to stop overcrowded jails from being flooded with lethal substances, including synthetic drugs.
Grieving families have said they should not have to worry if their loved ones will make it out of prison alive after 48 people died after taking drugs in jails in England and Wales in the year ending March 2025.
This is up 2,300 per cent since the year ending March 2010, when just two drug-related deaths were recorded, according to new figures from the prisons ombudsman obtained by The Independent.
Deaths have almost doubled year on year since 2024 as prisons grapple with large-scale drone deliveries, which have ushered in a “paradigm shift” in drug availability, allowing some prisoners to order from a menu of dangerous substances.
In the past, smaller amounts of contraband would be thrown over the prison fence or smuggled in through corrupt prison officers or prison visits, but now drones can deliver packages up to 11kg, Mr Taylor said.
He told The Independent the government has been too slow to respond, allowing dealers and organised crime groups to “operate with impunity”.
For many dealers, getting sent to prison simply “opens up a whole new market”, he said, adding: “Unfortunately, the more drugs that are getting in, the more chance that some more risky stuff is getting in and the more chance that people tragically will lose their lives.”
Mr Taylor called for tougher measures to get a grip on the crisis, which he says requires a national response. This includes “assertively managing” known dealers by segregating them from other prisoners and working with the Ministry of Defence to fend off drones.
“It really needs grip, and it needs cross-government grip,” he added. “Weapons are getting into prisons. There are some risky men locked up in some of our jails. There is a threat that if the government doesn’t get a grip on this, it is a threat to national security. Particularly if terrorist offenders are going to get their hands on weapons.”
Beth Ludlow’s father, Simon, 51, was found unresponsive in his cell inside category C HMP The Mount in Hertfordshire. His death in November 2023 was caused by protonitazene toxicity – a dangerous new type of synthetic opioid which is 100 times more potent than morphine. An inquest into his death concluded that the entry of drugs into the prison probably contributed to his death.
His heartbroken daughter, who described him as her “best friend”, told The Independent: “I’ve lost my dad because this prison can’t control drugs that are coming in. It’s not like he’s had a fight or he’s been stabbed or hurt and then died. No, it’s because drugs have somehow got into that prison.
“There shouldn’t be drugs in prison at all. It’s just disgusting.”
Calling for urgent government action to save other lives, she added: “You shouldn’t have to worry if they are going to come out of prison alive.”
Ms Ludlow, 24, said she was not told that her dad had relapsed a week before he died when he was rushed to hospital in cardiac arrest with a suspected opiate overdose.
She was ordered to leave the hospital by prison officers when she arrived to find him handcuffed to the bed, and left believing her father had suffered a heart attack. Prison officers then failed to thoroughly search his cell before he returned to prison. It is not known if the drugs that killed him were among his possessions at that time.
Recalling their last phone conversation the day before he died, she said: “So I was just talking to him and saying, ‘I just miss you. I want you home’.’ And I remember him saying, ‘there’s worse things that can happen. I’ll be home soon’.”
If she had known about his relapse, she would have tried to talk to him about it, she said. The following day, she received a phone call from the prison saying he had died.
When the results of his post-mortem came in, she did not know what nitazenes were.
“I didn’t really understand what dad died of until going through the inquest,” she said. “I never knew what these things were. I was just sitting there thinking he died of a heart attack. But he didn’t die of a heart attack, he died of drugs in prison.”
Landscape gardener Eddie Hands, 42, died after taking methadone while on remand in HMP Bedford on 16 February 2024. A damning inquest found his death was contributed to by neglect and could have been prevented if staff had intervened.
Although the father of two, who obtained methadone illicitly, was observed to be under the influence with slurred speech that morning, half-hourly checks were not properly carried out. He was left to deteriorate for six hours before staff found him unresponsive in his cell, having inhaled his own vomit.
His mother Margaret Hands, 67, said his inquest was the worst thing she has ever been through “because all of the evidence showed that Eddie should be here with us and it’s all preventable”.
“I have learnt a lot about prisons over Eddie, and I am horrified, and I just don’t want it to happen to another family,” she said.
“We are never going to be the same as a family. To hear the evidence that we heard was actually just shameful and shocking, it was like you can’t make it up.”
She described the new figures as “disgusting”, as she called for the government to do more to keep prisoners safe from drugs.
“David Lammy and Keir Starmer don’t really understand what families are going through,” she added.
“This is my child. I know he was 42, but he was our child still. I feel very angry and let down as a parent, I really, really do. I feel it’s just disgraceful and no families should be in this situation.”
Mr Taylor has repeatedly warned the government over the growing risks from drugs in prisons, warning drone deliveries pose a threat to national security.
His demands for a tougher approach come after MPs warned prison drug use had reached “endemic” levels in a major report earlier this year, with drugs changing hands for up to 100 times their street value.
The justice select committee found that 11 per cent of men and 19 per cent of women said they had developed a substance misuse problem since arriving in prison.
They called for urgent reforms, including wastewater testing, a sky fence system to tackle drones and investment in effective drug treatment services, among other recommendations.
Jessica Pandian, senior policy and communications officer at Inquest, which supports families whose loved ones have died in prison, said: “The record number of drug‑related deaths is a predictable consequence of a government that continues to imprison more people than any other country in Western Europe.
“The criminalisation of drugs has pushed whole communities into prison. Inside prison, dehumanising conditions, including long hours locked in cells and squalid living environments, drive people to use drugs as a way of coping.”
She said increased security will not protect people and called for improved drug treatments in prison.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with those who have lost loved ones as a result of substance misuse in prison.
“We are cutting the flow of drugs into prisons by investing over £40 million in physical security measures, and we work closely with healthcare partners to provide prisoners with the support they need to overcome their addiction.”
