Prisoners are increasingly jumping onto netting between wing landings in “one-man riots” as violence and assaults rise in overcrowded jails, according to the annual report of the inspectorate.
The number of incidents in which inmates clambered onto the netting or railings almost doubled in a year as prisoners disobeyed orders or tried to get themselves “shipped out” to safer prisons or places closer to their homes.
At the same time so-called legal highs such as Black Mamba and Spice are becoming the most prevalent drug in some jails with bullying associated with their use fuelling the increase in violence.
The use of cannabis substitutes were not a cause for concern in more than a third of jails inspected in the year to the end of