'There's more drugs in there than outside'

EX-PRISONERS TELL OF CONDITIONS AT STRANGEWAYS AFTER DAMNING REPORTb

- JOHN SCHEERHOUT AND STEPHEN TOPPING

INMATES released from rat-infested Strangeways prison slammed by the government's watchdog last week have described shocking conditions inside the jail, claiming drugs were 'rife' and drones deliver 'anything you can think of' to inmates.

Last week, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, concluded conditions were so concerning he took the unusual decision to publish an urgent improvement notice he had sent to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

He described 'squalid' and 'filthy' conditions inside the crumbling 156-year-old Victorian jail, which Manchester council would like to see demolished. The supply of drugs inside was 'catastrophic, said the report.

Now, two recently released prisoners have described their experience inside Strangeways, formally HMP Manchester and detailed the scale of the supply of drugs inside alongside how unsafe they felt behind bars.