Drug-related deaths in UK prisons have reached a record high, soaring 2,300 per cent since 2010, new figures from the prisons ombudsman show. In the year ending March 2025, 48 people died after taking drugs in jails in England and Wales, compared with just two in the year ending March 2010. Deaths have nearly doubled year on year since 2024, driven by an explosion in drone deliveries that Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, says have ushered in a “paradigm shift” in drug availability.
Mr Taylor warned that drug dealers are “operating with impunity”, with many seeing a prison sentence as simply “a whole new market” for their trade. The rising death toll reflects a broader crisis: in 2025, 394 people died in custody in England and Wales — a 15 per cent increase from 2024 and the highest number ever recorded. The problem persists after release, with 61 per cent of 137 post-release deaths investigated between September 2021 and December 2023 found to be drug-related, including 20 that occurred within a single day of release.
Drone deliveries: a paradigm shift
The method of smuggling drugs into prisons has been transformed by drones, which Mr Taylor said can deliver packages weighing up to 11kg into prison grounds. In the past, contraband was typically thrown over fences, smuggled in by corrupt officers or brought in during visits. Now, some prisoners can effectively order from a menu of dangerous substances. Between April 2024 and March 2025, more than 1,700 drone incidents were recorded at prisons. Mr Taylor has warned that drones carrying drugs and weapons pose a threat to national security, particularly if terrorist offenders were to gain access to them.
Efforts to counter the threat have been hampered by the state of prison infrastructure. Crumbling Victorian prison walls have prevented the installation of anti-drone netting, and some inmates have been found burning holes in windows to receive deliveries. Despite laws targeting drone use and government investment in countermeasures, prisons remain vulnerable. The National Audit Office reported that prison governors lack the resources to keep up with security demands, pointing to significant budget underspends and a growing maintenance backlog.
The drugs themselves have also grown more lethal. The prison market is increasingly dominated by new psychoactive substances, particularly synthetic opioids known as nitazenes. Simon Ludlow, a 51-year-old landscape gardener held at HMP The Mount in Hertfordshire, died in November 2023 from protonitazene toxicity — a synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than morphine. Protonitazene, described as a “zombie drug”, was so toxic it failed clinical trials and was never manufactured for medical use. Synthetic cannabinoids such as “spice” and “black mamba” are also widespread; one study found 46.7 per cent of prisoners surveyed reported using synthetic cannabinoids, with users experiencing greater psychological distress than non-users.
‘I’ve lost my dad because this prison can’t control drugs’
Simon Ludlow’s daughter, Beth, 24, described him as her “best friend”. She told The Independent: “I’ve lost my dad because this prison can’t control drugs that are coming in. It’s not like he’s had a fight or he’s been stabbed or hurt and then died. No, it’s because drugs have somehow got into that prison.” An inquest into his death concluded that the entry of drugs into the prison probably contributed to his death. It also found that prison staff failed to carry out a proper wellbeing review after he was returned from hospital following a cardiac arrest, and failed to thoroughly search his cell. It is not known whether the drugs that killed him were among his possessions at that time. Ms Ludlow said she was not told that her father had relapsed a week before he died and that she believed he had suffered a heart attack until the post-mortem results.
Landscape gardener Eddie Hands, 42, died after taking methadone while on remand at HMP Bedford on 16 February 2024. A damning inquest found his death was contributed to by neglect and could have been prevented if staff had intervened. Although he was observed to be under the influence with slurred speech that morning, half-hourly checks were not properly carried out. He was left to deteriorate for six hours before staff found him unresponsive, having inhaled his own vomit. His mother, Margaret Hands, 67, said: “This is my child. I know he was 42, but he was our child still. I feel very angry and let down as a parent, I really, really do.”
Proposed solutions and government response
Mr Taylor has called for a national, cross-government response, including “assertively managing” known dealers by segregating them from other prisoners and working with the Ministry of Defence to fend off drones. “Weapons are getting into prisons. There are some risky men locked up in some of our jails,” he said. “There is a threat that if the government doesn’t get a grip on this, it is a threat to national security.”
MPs on the justice select committee earlier this year described drug use in prisons as having reached “endemic” levels, with drugs changing hands for up to 100 times their street value. Their report found that 11 per cent of men and 19 per cent of women said they had developed a substance misuse problem since arriving in prison. The committee made 29 recommendations, including wastewater testing, a sky fence system to tackle drones, and investment in effective drug treatment services. However, the government accepted only eight in full, rejected two, and partially accepted 19. The current government has adopted the 2019 Prison Drugs Strategy, which focuses on restricting supply, reducing demand and building recovery.
Jessica Pandian, senior policy and communications officer at the charity Inquest, which supports families bereaved by deaths in custody, said the record number of deaths was a “predictable consequence” of imprisoning more people than any other country in Western Europe. “The criminalisation of drugs has pushed whole communities into prison. Inside prison, dehumanising conditions, including long hours locked in cells and squalid living environments, drive people to use drugs as a way of coping,” she said, calling for improved drug treatments rather than increased security alone.
Overcrowding compounds the crisis: in 2024-25, 72 per cent of prisons in England and Wales were overcrowded, up nine percentage points from the previous year. The Ministry of Justice has invested over £40 million in physical security measures, including £10 million on anti-drone technology. A spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with those who have lost loved ones as a result of substance misuse in prison. We are cutting the flow of drugs into prisons by investing over £40 million in physical security measures, and we work closely with healthcare partners to provide prisoners with the support they need to overcome their addiction.” The National Audit Office, however, found that prison governors lack the resources to keep up with security demands, with a growing maintenance backlog leaving prisons vulnerable to the very drone deliveries that are fuelling the crisis.
