Prisoner died in cell ‘after smoking outlawed synthetic marijuana’
Officers and medics battled in vain to save robber Shabul Ahmed, 34, at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk
A PRISONER has died after allegedly smoking illegal high Spice in his cell.
Shabul Ahmed was reportedly heard screaming for help in his cell after smoking the synthetic marijuana.
Warders and medics were unable to revive him and he was certified dead at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk.
Family of the inmate, caged for robbery and serving his sentence in the jail’s Tempest Unit, have been informed.
It is not known how Ahmed, 34, acquired the substance.
A Prison Service spokesman said: “As with all deaths in custody, there will be an investigation by the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.”
Last month the chief inspector of prisons Peter Clarke admitted Spice is “having a devastating impact in UK prisons”.
Of 805 cons surveyed in nine jails, a third had used mind-bending Spice in the previous month.
Inmates have been racking up large debts with pushers and there are increasing levels of bullying and violence as a result.
The situation is “getting worse, not better” as prisoners have been using drones to smuggle the drug inside British prisons.
Cons have dubbed it the “bird killer” — a reference to how it helps them serve time in a daze.
It is much stronger than cannabis, and has a hallucinatory dimension.
Prisoners say they have seen “people come out of their cell, run along the landing and go straight towards the gates because they think they can run through the gates — or run towards a wall and actually think they can run through the wall”.
Other stories include a prisoner saying he had seen someone high on the drug eating their own vomit in a bowl and dipping bread into it; another saw someone drinking water from the toilet and eating salt.
“When I had my last experience of Spice, I felt my brain was being ripped out,” one inmate said.
In May a law banning all legal highs came into force.
They have always been banned in prisons, but with no drugs test available for the laboratory-made compounds, lags have little worry about getting caught.
Ahmed’s death in June at the Category C jail will be assessed by prisons' inspectors.
The Prison Service said: "We take a zero tolerance approach to drugs in our prisons and use sniffer dogs, cell searches and mandatory drugs tests to find them.
"We have already legislated to make smuggling New Psychoactive Substances into prison illegal and those caught trying to throw packages over prison walls can now face up to two years in jail.
"However we must do more, which is why we are investing £1.3 billion to transform the prison estate, to better support rehabilitation and tackle bullying, violence and drugs."