Nearly 40 lags collapse in 24 hours after taking Fentanyl and Spice mix as one rushed to hospital
ALMOST 40 inmates at a prison collapsed in 24 hours after taking drugs — with one rushed to hospital.
More than ten per cent of the jail’s population fell ill from a batch of fentanyl mixed with spice.
Worried bosses then placed troubled Deerbolt prison in Co Durham on a two-day lockdown after the incident last month.
Synthetic drug fentanyl can be 50 times more potent than heroin — and one inmate was feared to be dying from an overdose.
A source said: “A prisoner was found collapsed in his cell, which was when the alarm was raised.
“Shockingly, this was in the morning — and they got to him just in time.
“He was rushed to hospital, where they saved him. But he was in such a bad way that ‘death in custody’ paperwork was prepared in case the worst happened.”
They added: “Word got round that loads of the prisoners had taken a mixture of fentanyl and spice. Others started collapsing over a period of hours — and there were a total of 38 cases.”
“No one has ever known an outbreak of illness as big as this. The prison was put in to lockdown and a fleet of ambulances arrived.
“A lot of the inmates were treated in the jail with an antidote, and it is a sad sign of the times that they know they need to stock it.”
The latest inspection report for Deerbolt — where most lags are under 21 — found more than one in four had substance abuse problems.
The Prison Service said: “The new Government inherited a prison system in crisis and is determined to tackle supply and demand for drugs in our jails.”