A plague of drug smuggling is having a “corrosive” effect on Scotland’s prisons and must be stamped out, a senior sheriff has said.
Nearly £100,000 worth of drugs were seized in a matter of months as all manner of means were used in an effort to transport illicit substances into Perth Prison.
There were 136 suspected drug discoveries in 2014 and a further 135 in 2015.
After a slow start in 2016 – thanks to “robust” measures by prison authorities, seizures have spiked again.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told Perth Sheriff Court that he had seen an increase in the number of instances of drugs being taken into prison.
He said they “undermined” the prison system, put lives at risk and left prisoners at risk of coercion by inmates who run the halls.
The Sheriff spoke out as he jailed two women who attempted to smuggle heroin and cannabis resin into their partners.
The sentence came as a staggering shock to Krystina Allwood who was imprisoned for four months after passing just £8 of cannabis resin to her partner.
Allwood’s solicitor had hoped to secure a community disposal for her client only for the sheriff to jail her, commenting that “a serious message has to be sent”.
The 28-year-old, of Birch Avenue in Scone had admitted being concerned in the supply of the class B drug at HMP Perth and was led down to the cells in tears to audible shock from the public gallery.
The court heard that prison officers had been tipped-off that her partner was having drugs brought into prison and had been watching him closely.
He reached into her bra to remove a small packet while they hugged each other goodbye within the prison’s visitor room on September 2 this year.
Allwood claimed the drugs were for his own use “to help him sleep” but The Crown was clear that the drugs were to be brought in and then passed to other inmates higher up the food chain.
A lengthier sentence was handed down to Kaisha Bates who was stopped while taking heroin with a prison value of £1,750 into the prison.
She had taken greater steps to conceal the drugs, which were found within the fingers of a latex glove. It had been hidden within a specially designed pocket in her jeans.
The 26-year-old, of Reid Square in Dundee, was jailed for 19 months after she admitted being concerned in the supply of the class A drug at HMP Perth on December 29 last year.
Sentencing Allwood – the second of the two women to be jailed – Sheriff Foulis said: “One of the key issues surrounding drugs going into prison is that it undermines order.
“It encourages certain people to put pressure on other inmates and to make threats in order to get drugs taken in.
“It can result in inmates taking drugs and losing their lives and obviously it has an impact on anyone who is an addict and can still obtain drugs in prison.
“It seems there has been an increase in activities that result in drugs being taken into prison and a serious view must be taken.
“Drugs have a corrosive effect on the entire prison system.”
