Prison is warned again of inmate drug death risk

An ombudsman again warned more inmates would die unless a prison urgently tackled drug use and staff shortages.

A report said known drug user Max Marchant, 26, from Essex, died from an overdose shortly after he was moved to a wing "overrun" with psychoactive substances at HMP Mount in Hertfordshire.

"I am extremely concerned that unless more is urgently done to reduce drugs at the prison, more prisoners will die there," the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman stated, just months after similar concerns were raised following another death.

The Prison Service said it accepted the report's recommendations and "significant improvements" had been made.

"These include bolstering frontline staff and clamping down on drugs and debt," a spokesman added.

Marchant, of Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, was originally jailed for six years in 2018 for a road rage attack in which he stabbed another driver in the chest in Rochford.

He was later recalled to prison and transferred to the jail in Bovingdon, near Hemel Hempstead, where he was found unresponsive in his cell on 25 July, 2022.

The report followed an inquest heard earlier this month and found no evidence he wanted to take his own life.

"Although I am satisfied that Marchant knew the dangers and that he received good support from his health and wellbeing worker, I am concerned he was moved to a wing known to be overrun with psychoactive substances less than 36 hours before he died," the report said.

"Tragically, the prevalence of psychoactive substances on his new wing apparently weakened his resolve, with fatal consequences."

A review at the time found a significant amount of psychoactive substances on Nash A wing and concluded the prison was not doing enough to reduce supply and demand.

Various factors meant drugs were "especially prevalent" at The Mount, and although improvement work was ongoing, staff shortages "perpetually undermine" the prison's efforts," the report added.

"It is therefore imperative that the director general for prisons considers how the prison can reasonably deliver an effective drug strategy in these circumstances."

Marchant died in the same month inmate Tyrone Beresford, 31, died of an overdose. Two suspected drug deaths followed in January 2023.

In November, an ombudsman's report into Beresford's case highlighted the same concerns around further deaths.

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