Ross Kemp revealed today how he lost the ability to speak after inhaling Spice while filming a new ITV prison documentary at HMP Belmarsh.
The 55-year-old presenter breathed in a tiny amount of residue left in a vape by a comatose inmate at the high-security jail in Thamesmead, South East London.
The form of the drug Kemp inhaled during six months of filming at the prison is called Man Down, which is a mixture of aluminium cleaner and insect killer.
It comes amid a Spice epidemic in UK jails with an ambulance called to one every 42 minutes, and the drug becoming more potent since possession was outlawed.
Kemp also met far-Right activist Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who spent nine weeks at Belmarsh after being jailed for contempt of court.
Ross Kemp lost the ability to speak after inhaling a tiny amount of Spice at HMP Belmarsh
The form of the drug Kemp inhaled while filming at the prison in London is called Man Down
Residue was left in a vape by a comatose inmate at the jail in Thamesmead, South East London
Prison officers and medical staff at HMP Belmarsh responded to a Code Blue, where a prisoner has difficulty breathing or is unconscious, following the incident involving Spice
His reaction is part of the new series Welcome To HMP Belmarsh which starts on ITV tomorrow at 9pm, giving cameras full access to the jail for the first time.
Kemp, who looked into how 120 officers oversee 900 inmates, told the Sun: ‘I am rarely lost for words but as I turn to camera, I have lost the ability to speak.
‘My brain has gone blank, my hands are clammy and my mouth is dry. I have just inhaled a tiny amount of Spice residue left in a vape by a comatose prisoner.
‘This particular version of the drug is known as Man Down – and it does exactly what it says on the tin. It is a potentially lethal combination of aluminium cleaner and insect killer, and the man who smoked it has collapsed.
‘Prison officers and medical staff have responded to a Code Blue, where a prisoner has difficulty breathing or is unconscious.’
He said the prisoner was brought round by staff using citrus, which can take away some of Spice’s effects, and shouted at Kemp: ‘Get out of my f***ing cell.’
The presenter said the inmate could not remember meeting him when they spoke the next day, and told him of the drug: ‘It takes me out of here for four days.’
Kemp went inside for six months to learn about life inside Britain’s most notorious jail which has housed the country’s most dangerous and infamous convicts.
Cameras followed him as he explored how prisoners and staff cope with high-profile inmates, extremists and common criminals living side-by-side.
He went inside the High Security Unit – the only ‘prison within a prison’ in England and Wales – and learned how Belmarsh tries to rehabilitate inmates.
Kemp also saw how the prison coped with a violent protest outside, gaining a close insight into life for staff and prisoners while it goes into lockdown.
The first episode looks at the UK’s only Contingency Suite, a unit designed to hold high-profile prisoners deemed at risk of suicide or attack by other inmates.
The unit has been home to the likes of Soham killer Ian Huntley, black cab rapist John Worboys and hate preacher Anjem Choudary.
Head of prisoner safety Adrian Knight said: ‘The windows are sealed so you can’t get around the bars. [He has] his own shower facilities.
‘It’s about what we need to do to keep prisoners and obviously the person down here safe. Or to keep them from having access to people they might be able to influence in some way.
Kemp also meets far-Right campaigner Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who served nine weeks at HMP Belmarsh after being jailed for contempt of court
ITV cameras go inside HMP Belmarsh, which is the most high-security prison in Britain
Kemp (right) meets Muhammad Asif Hafeez (left), known as Sultan, the alleged mastermind of a drug-smuggling empire, during a visit to HMP Belmarsh’s High Security Unit
Kemp’s visit to HMP Belmarsh gives cameras full access to the jail in London for the first time
‘And then obviously you’ve got the exercise yard, which is self-contained. Not very nice, but yeah.’
Prison staff told how a sharp rise in gang crime outside the walls has led to a major increase in violence and serious containment issues for the prison.
Custodial manager Jamie Scammel said: ‘It’s all either possibly gang related before they came into prison, or someone that they’ve got conflict with on another house block.
‘For example the historical conflict from outside: assaults, assaults, fighting, fighting, historical conflict. The level of violence is increasing, it’s just causing concern. Staff safety is obviously at risk. Prisoner safety is at risk as well.’
HMP Belmarsh was the first male prison to be built in London for more than a century when it opened in 1991.
The high-security jail in Thamesmead houses some of the most dangerous prisoners in Britain
There has been a major increase in violence and serious containment issues for the prison
Of the 900 inmates at Belmarsh, around 200 are murderers and 17 are convicted terrorists
Kemp meets a number of inmates while going inside Britain’s most notorious prison
It has its own guard dog unit, a bomb-proof tunnel linking it to Woolwich Crown Court and the High Security Unit, with its own 20ft-high concrete wall and doors opened remotely by central control.
Kemp said: ‘It houses some of the most dangerous prisoners in Britain. No film crew has ever been granted access to it before, but I’m on my way in there now.’
Previous occupants have included KGB agents, train robber Ronnie Biggs and Charles Bronson – and Ross interviews one prisoner, Muhammad Asif Hafeez.
Known as the Sultan, he is the alleged mastermind of a drug-smuggling empire and is facing extradition to the US, where he could face up 30 years in prison if convicted.
Deep within the HSU lies its own segregation unit known as ‘The Box’, which has no beds, no sinks, no toilets and no access to water.
Kemp’s new documentary Welcome To HMP Belmarsh starts on ITV tomorrow night at 9pm
There are 120 officers overseeing 900 inmates at HMP Belmarsh in South East London
Kemp at the entrance to the ‘prison within a prison’ at the HMP Belmarsh High Security Unit
When HSU governor Helen Bicker briefly shuts Kemp in, he said: ‘HSU feels oppressive to begin with but this has magnified it a hundred times.
‘There’s definitely that feeling that you are completely alone. I don’t think I could spend an hour in here without going round the twist.’
Kemp also learns a unique course is trying to change the lives of some of Belmarsh’s most dangerous offenders – gang members – by putting them together in the same room.
One prisoner said: ‘I don’t wanna be broke, I don’t wanna come home and have no TV. I never had that push, that extra push. I feel like if I had someone there behind me, backing me I wouldn’t be here right now.’
Kemp looked into how 120 officers oversee 900 inmates at the prison in South East London
Some of the most infamous convicts in recent British history have spent time inside its walls
Deputy governor Jenny Louis said: ‘These are individuals who are dangerous, we’re talking about gun crime, knife crime, offences that have taken peoples’ lives.
‘A number of people wouldn’t want to even be in their company. I’m not saying that this is a miracle because it’s not, but break down those barriers and you get to know who they are. They want to change.’
Mr Knight added: ‘We will take anyone. We’ve had war criminals in here for genocide. There’s not one prisoner in the country that we won’t take.
‘We’ve got 17 convicted terrorists, 187 murderers, prisoners that have killed three or four people.’
Welcome to HMP Belmarsh with Ross Kemp starts on ITV tomorrow at 9pm