A coroner has warned that prisons are losing their battle against drugs, following an inquest into the death of a man at HMP Frankland.
Wayne Miller, 36, died at the prison in December 2024. An inquest jury at Durham Coroners’ Court concluded that his death was drug-related.
Assistant Coroner Simon Connolly has issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report. In it, he calls on the prison to take a more consistent approach to its policy on visits.
Mr Miller was serving a life sentence. The inquest heard that he got on well with staff and other prisoners at Frankland. Mr Miller’s history included substance misuse.
While in custody he used Spice as often as four times a week, along with cocaine and cannabis. The inquest heard he was in debt to other prisoners.
The jury found that he died from the effects of Spice and metonitazene. Metonitazene is a powerful synthetic opioid that can be up to 200 times stronger than morphine.
Social visit nine days earlier
Nine days before his death, Mr Miller had a social visit. The inquest heard that staff suspected a visitor had passed something to him.
X-ray body scans of Mr Miller did not identify anything. One of the visitors faced arrest, but no further action followed.
The prison’s Governor, Jason Curley, said organised crime gangs had strategies for getting drugs into jails. He said Frankland had carried out security upgrades to make it harder for those gangs to succeed.
He described some prisoners as very clever and said they could run major businesses if they chose a different path. He said they made large sums from drugs, mobile phones and drone deliveries.
HMP Frankland is a high-security prison for men in the North East. Its most recent full inspection, in July 2024, rated it reasonably good on safety, respect, purposeful activity and preparation for release.
