Big haul of drugs seized at prison
3:44pm Friday 28th April 2006 in News By Bolton Evening News Reporter
DRUGS worth almost £85,000 have been seized from prisoners inside Forest Bank Prison in the last 12 months.
The haul, including heroin and cocaine, was discovered when inmates' cells were raided or after packages of drugs were thrown over prison walls by dealers.
The prison, at Agecroft near Salford, houses many men from Bolton.
Figures obtained by the Bolton Evening News show that cannabis is by far the most common drug inside the prison, with more than 17 kilos seized in the last 12 months.
The Bolton Evening News exclusively revealed the drug culture at the prison in January when an inmate said drugs were "rife" in every wing of the jail.
Bolton MP Dr Brian Iddon has also called for the prison to end its drugs culture after he was shown £24,000 worth of illegal drugs during a tour of the prison.
But prison bosses today said they were successfully fighting the scourge of drugs within the privately-owned prison after seeing a reduction in inmates testing positive for banned substances.
Data which the Bolton Evening News requested under the Freedom of Information Act shows that 195 grams of heroin, 107 grams of cocaine and 17,452 grams of cannabis were seized, along with 146 grams of amphetamine between April 2005 and March this year. A police source said the drugs would be worth about £85,000 if they were sold on the streets but the massive demand for drugs behind bars could mean the value increased five-fold.
An armed robber and former drug addict on remand at the prison told the Bolton Evening News in January that criminals used catapults and crossbows to fire drugs over prison walls where they could be picked up by addicts and dealers.
The prison came under fire last year after the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers, said prisoners and staff were put at risk by a "culture of tolerance with inappropriate behaviour". The report also found that four out of 10 drug tests returned positive samples.
Dr Iddon, who represents Bolton South East, said: "I'm staggered by the amount of cannabis seized."
A spokesman for UK Detention Services said; "The very fact that these drugs have been found is positive.
"It's impossible to stop drugs coming into a prison and the amounts seized include what has been confiscated from visitors and prisoners returning from court."
