Drug misuse is a global concern that has become increasingly widespread across all levels of society. Its use in prisons contributes to greater disruption and violence, as well as having a negative influence on prisoner safety, rehabilitation, and recovery. Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) in the forms of impregnated papers posted to prisoners are of a particular concern in prison settings where they are commonly used by vaping. This study was conducted to develop a spectral database and a qualitative method to identify the variety of emerging NPS impregnated onto paper samples sent to prison inmates. The aim was to help rapid detection and identification and to demonstrate that these findings can be a good indicator of the drug prevalence and trends in prisons.

In total, 1250 non-judicial paper samples seized from twelve English prisons between 2018 and 2020 were analysed to determine the NPSs circulating in the prisons. From each piece of paper, from different locations, believed to be impregnated with drugs, approximately 1cm² of paper was cut. Samples were placed into separate 1.5mL Eppendorf tubes with 1mL of 50% (v/v) methanol in LCMS-grade water. Extracts were prepared from the samples by vortex-mixing (30min). A mobile phase blank was injected between the analysis of each extract to check for carryover. Extracts were screened using an Agilent Technologies 1290 Infinity II - 6545 Q-TOF LC/MS instrument with electrospray ionization in positive ion mode. It uses an Agilent Eclipse Plus C18 1.8mm 2.1×100mm column, maintained at 40°C. Drug separation was performed over a total of 13min using a simple linear gradient of water (A), and methanol (B), both contained 0.01% (v/v) formic acid in 5mmol/L ammonium formate, at a flow rate of 400μL/min. Sample injection volume was 0.2μL.

The research findings showed that SCRA was the most prevalent drug group detected in drug-impregnated paper seizures in English prisons between 2018 and 2020 and followed by Class A drugs and Class B drugs. SCRAs had higher prevalence in male prisons whereas female prisons presented a higher prevalence of Class A drugs. Furthermore, male prisons with lower security level (category C) were appeared to have a higher prevalence of Class B, Class C and abused prescription drugs compared to category B prisons, which had a higher prevalence of nicotine. Associations between drug group and sex, prison category and geographical locations were statistically analysed by Pearson chi-square test using Minitab software.

The outcomes of this study have provided new information regarding drug use in prison. These findings may be significant as police information and could be utilised to aid drug policymakers in prisons, particularly in the development of treatment plans addressing the most commonly misused drugs in each prison. This analysis would help in the identification of drug smuggling ways into jails, enables prison staff to pay more attention on these sites.