An inmate at one of Britain’s most notorious prisons is reported to have sliced off his penis with a makeshift knife while high on the illegal drug Spice.
The unknown prisoner nearly bled to death after self-harming at the Category A jail in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, which has been dubbed ‘Monster Mansion’.
The inmate, who was said to be in his early 30s, had to spend weeks having surgery in hospital after cutting off his genitals, according to the Daily Star Sunday.
The horrific injury was revealed as Judge Kristina Harrison told a court in the North East of the dangers of using the illegal drug Spice.
The unknown prisoner nearly bled to death after self-harming at the Category A jail in Wakefield, West Yorkshire (pictured), which has been dubbed ‘Monster Mansion’
A prison source said inmates high on Spice had inflicted terrible injuries on themselves including biting their tongues and mutilating their faces.
The source said prison officers were having to be sent home after inhaling the drug while users were being turned into ‘zombies’.
The drug, which is meant to mimic the effects of cannabis, was outlawed in 2016 but remains a problem in UK jails.
Home Office statistics have shown that almost two-thirds of drug seizures in prison are related to Spice, which is cheaper than tobacco in no-smoking jails.
Figures from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman figures show that 79 people who were suspected to have been using spice or similar ‘new psychoactive substances’ died in prison between June 2013 and September 2016.
Suspects have attended court incapable as a result of using the drug, while 16 prison officers in County Durham had to take time off work last year after breathing in Spice fumes from prisoners’ cells.
Former prisons ombudsman Nigel Ombudsman has described it as ‘a scourge in prison’.
The top-security prison in Wakefield has been called ‘Monster Mansion’ because of the dangerous inmates held there, such as violent prisoner Charles Bronson and serial killer Robert Maudsley.
Other inmates at Wakefield have included child killer Stuart Hazell, and serial killer GP Harold Shipman, who died at the prison in 2004.
The drug Spice (pictured), which is meant to mimic the effects of cannabis, was outlawed in 2016 but remains a problem in UK jails