11/02/2008 00:00:00
UK: Woman jailed for smuggling cannabis into prison
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A woman who tried to smuggle cannabis into a Northamptonshire prison to
an inmate she had never met has been jailed for 10 months.
Kirsty Allsop, 24, was arrested when guards at HMP Rye Hill, near
Daventry, found her with three separate amounts of cannabis when she
arrived to visit an inmate on August 4.
It is the latest case of drugs being smuggled into the privately-run,
category B prison.
Allsop, of Portland Road, Nottingham, pleaded guilty before magistrates
to two charges of possessing 24 grams of cannabis resin and grass with
intent to supply.
Matthew Maynard, prosecuting, said Allsop and another woman had been on
a visit at the prison and met inmate Gary Longstone, who she had never
met before but agreed to smuggle drugs to.
As they embraced at the end of the visit, a prison guard spotted
Longstone put his hands into the waistband of her trousers and try to
take the drugs out.
But they were stopped and searched, and Allsop gave up the drugs which
amounted to almost an ounce of the drug.
The court heard Allsop, who has been using heroin and crack for five
years, owed money to her dealer who had assaulted and threatened her to
take the drugs into prison to repay a debt.
Recorder Sandy Dawson, who jailed her for 10 months, said she had
mentioned nothing of her claims of duress during interview when she had
made 'no comment' to all questions and had shown little com
mitment to the proposal from the Probation Service that she was suitable
for drug treatment rehabilitation.
He said: "Although you say you were threatened, the courts have
repeatedly said offenders cannot escape punishment just because they are
the courier and mule."
Poppy Mossenn, defending, said Allsop was a bright, intelligent woman
who had got into drugs through an ex-partner.
"She owed a particular person money and was threatened into doing it.
She was given the drugs in question and told to visit an inmate at Rye Hill.
"She did not know whom, nor had she met him before."
HMP Rye Hill has been dogged with controversy since it opened under the
private finance initiative in 2001.
Anne Owers, HM Inspector of Prisons, said in a report following a
surprise visit to HMP Rye Hill that it was unclear whether it was the
staff or the inmates who were in charge of the prison.
http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/Woman-jailed-for-smuggling-cannabis.3762264.jp
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13276
Author:
Northampton Chronicle and Echo via UKCIA
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