A 21-year-old man has been jailed for throwing drugs over the walls of Nottingham prison from neighbouring gardens.
Louis Denham, formerly of Woodfield Road, Strelley, pleaded guilty at Nottingham Crown Court to two counts of supplying psychoactive substances and was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
The conviction is the first in Nottinghamshire to use new laws introduced in 2015 under the Serious Crime Act, making it an offence to throw packages into a prison.
The legislation aims to criminalise throwing new psychoactive substances into prison grounds in an attempt to supply drugs.
Denham carried out the ‘throw overs’ from Edingley Square, just a few yards away from the prison on Perry Road, Sherwood.
Packages were found in the prison grounds in March 2016, and sent for forensic analysis, which found Denham’s fingerprints on the containers.
On August 26, 10 cigar-sized packets containing drugs were found close to the prison’s perimeter fence.
Denham was seen nearby and chased by a police officer who arrested him.
A search of his home uncovered 10 micro-sized mobile phones which were small enough to fit inside the drug packages.
The drugs came under the definition of psychoactive substances, more commonly known as ‘legal highs’, but many of which have since been made illegal by changes in Government law.
The drugs are a problem in prisons across the country and last year more than half of prisoners at HMP Ranby, near Retford in Nottinghamshire, said they found getting drugs easy.
A report, conducted by The National Offender Management Service, revealed 15 per cent of inmates had developed a drug problem since being at the prison.
Detective Inspector Ed Cook led the operation leading to Denham’s arrest.
He said: “This is the result of an operation between Nottinghamshire Police and HMP Nottingham to target offenders supplying items into the prison.
“New Psychoactive Substances can be directly linked to an increase in violence because of the unpredictable effects on the user’s health.
“This in turn increases demand on prison staff and the emergency services including police and healthcare.”
He added: “We have a duty to ensure our communities are safe, including the prison community, and that means bringing people like Denham – who was using access to local residents’ gardens to supply the prison – to justice.
“Further operations will be conducted to target such offences at all our Prison establishments.”
Nottinghamshire prisons came under fire last year after drone activity was recorded at HMP Ranby, near Retford and HMP Whatton, east of Bingham.
Officers recorded several cases of drones carrying mobile phones and trying to smuggle drugs into the jails.
Across the whole UK prison network there were 33 drone incidents in 2015, compared with just two in 2014.
Governor of HMP Nottingham Tom Wheatley said: “Psychoactive substances cause misery in prison and those who supply them are breaking the law and obstructing us from delivering a safe, secure and decent environment.
“We work with our law enforcement partners to ensure that this activity is likely to result in imprisonment for the perpetrators.”
