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Prisoners at privately run UK jail ‘can get drugs but not soap’

Inspectors say drug use at supersized G4S jail is more than twice rate in similar prisons

By Alan Travis
The Guardian

WEST MIDLANDS — Prisoners claim it is easier to get hold of illicit drugs than a bar of soap inside Britain’s largest prison, G4S’s flagship Oakwood jail near Wolverhampton, according to official inspectors.

The chief inspector of prisons has confirmed that drug use at the 1,600-place privately run “supersized” jail, which opened in April last year, is more than twice the rate of similar jails while inmates find it difficult to get hold of clean prison clothing, basic toiletries and cleaning materials.

One in seven inmates report having developed a drug problem while they have been inside Oakwood.

Full story: Prisoners at privately run Oakwood jail ‘can get drugs but not soap’