AS zombified addicts beg for another hit of a drug “more horrendous than heroin” around the prison canteen, shameless ‘Romeos’ are scouting the halls for their next staff conquest.
Meanwhile, from their cells, cartel lords are busy raking in thousands of pounds from their Zanco phones. It’s just another day in this infamous British lock-up, as an insider reveals how its walls are buckling under the strain of thriving black market trade and corruption.
Welcome to HMP Guys Marsh – the Category C prison near Shaftesbury, Dorset, where worrying reports last year found drugs were an “intractable problem”, cell-brewed moonshine was rife and 40 members of staff had been investigated for misconduct over a three-year period.
With a raft of recent warnings over its rampant contraband racket, The Sun has spoken to former inmate Mark – not his real name – about how the embattled institution has struggled to stem a worrying tide of drugs, sex and criminality.
He reveals how – often brazenly underneath officers’ noses – a notorious ‘Romeo’ prisoner romanced three guards and a drug addict was fleeced of £230,000, while many treat the lock-up as a “training camp” to become better criminals.
Speaking under a false name due to fear of reprisals, Mark tells us: “It was insane. I’ve never experienced anything like it and I’ve been to other prisons.
“Drugs are f***ing rife in prison, there’s more in there than on the outside.
“If you want a drink, it ain’t hard to get because so many people sell cell-brewed hooch for £40 a litre.
“There are lads making thousands and thousands a day issuing commands to their dealers on the outside and then also making thousands a week inside too selling drugs to inmates.
“It’s a joke that prison is seen as a chance to rehabilitate, it’s more like a training camp that gives criminals a chance for a little detox.
“It helps them get twice as many dangerous contacts as before.
“They leave in the best shape of their lives and richer because they are still making so much money outside.”
Back in 2019, it was revealed how contraband was incredibly being stitched into the stomachs of dead rats and then lobbed over the prison yard walls at Guys Marsh. Now, however, the trade is far more brazen.
Mark, who served time there in the Noughties, says plastic shells from Kinder Surprise eggs are being used to stash cocaine, weed, small phones and tobacco.
“Guys drive from London, Birmingham, Plymouth to lob things over the fence or use drones,” he says.
“It’s a proper network. You can pretty much get anything you want inside prison.”
Unless they are a world notorious Colombian drug smuggler, they can do whatever they want on the phones and get away with it
Mark
Mark says on drop days, two or three inmates “distract the guards by chatting b*****ks” and next thing they know, “it’s raining Kinder eggs, 30 or 40 at a time”.
He adds: “By the time guards notice, 20 are down lads’ pants or up their a**e. For £30 of cannabis on the outside, you will pay £300 inside.
“Because it sells for so much they only need a few to get through and they’ve made a lot of money. It’s worth the gamble.
“Officers know people are smoking weed, it happens daily. Sometimes it’s better for them to turn a blind eye for an easier life.”
‘£50k a week dealing’
Since 2024, 400-metre restricted fly zones have been implemented around prisons to combat drones being used to smuggle items inside.
Lags caught with illicit items lose privileges and face longer prison terms.
Mark estimates one in five inmates have a mobile phone in the lock up and many use it to continue running drug empires on the outside. One, he says, was even selling XL Bully dogs.
For £250 they can buy a Zanco, which costs as little as £24.99 online and is known as the world’s smallest phone, measuring at just 5cm long and 2cm wide.
Alternatively, he says they can get an old iPhone for £1,500 and even buy WiFi boosters. Many hide the devices inside the handles of their kettles or pay others to hold them.
While the prison has tried to combat the issue by installing signal jammers, lags still find areas with reception.
And even when the phones are seized, Mark says there’s a big obstacle.
“Here’s the clever part, no inmate is going to tell the prison warden their pin code, so they have to pay to crack them, which costs around £10,000,” he says.
“So unless they are a world notorious Colombian drug smuggler, they can do whatever they want on the phones and get away with it.
“The risk is outweighed. It’s better to run the gauntlet and earn £50,000 a week coke-dealing and get an extra year on their sentence.”
‘Romeo’ lags
Officer-inmate relationships have occurred at the lock-up too. In 2023, Rachel Martin, 25, was jailed for 16 months for her “intimate” prison romance with robber Raymond Abraham.
They exchanged 900 WhatsApp messages, many explicit in nature, “expressing desire to perform sexual acts on each other” and including sexual photos.
She received more than £12,000 from Abraham, who was jailed as part of a gang who tried to detonate ATM machines to steal cash.
Martin splashed the money on clothes and shoes, and even smuggled in ladies’ underwear for Abraham.
Mark recalls a different romance occurring during his time there, saying: “This prison guard was a monster, she had been there for two years and was caught with an inmate in his cell.
“This lad was known as a legend. It was the third officer he’d been caught with. I think two of them were married. He got moved after that.”
Last year, a freedom of information request by the Bournemouth Echo revealed 41 members of HMP Guys Marsh staff were investigated for misconduct in the three years to March 2024. The highest figure was 16 in that final year. No clarification over the type of misconduct was revealed.
Furthermore, a 2025 HM Inspectorate of Prisons report said the jail had “declined” since its last inspection three years earlier when it was “not performing well”.
They cited “widespread availability of illicit drugs”, the highest rate of self-harm of any Category C prison and added that officers were “too quick to resort” to force. They also found black mould and dirty cells lacked basic amenities.
‘Spice head’ hell
Mark believes the worst blight at HMP Guys Marsh is Spice – a deadly synthetic cannabis that causes heart attacks, strokes, breathing issues and psychotic episodes.
The lab-made drugs were linked to nearly half of the 129 “non-natural” deaths in England and Wales prisons between 2015 and 2020.
Mark tells us that ‘Spice heads’, as they are known, are considered “the scum of the earth” due to their willingness to do anything for a fix.
“At dinner, lads walk around saying, ‘Anyone want my chicken and pudding for a tiny bit of Spice?’ It happened every single day,” he says.
This lad was known as a legend. It was the third officer he’d been caught with. I think two of them were married
Mark
“You could see in their eyes that they had lost all sense of pride. To them smoking that s**t was more important than eating.”
An A4-piece of paper impregnated with the drug is flogged for £1,000, a credit-card sized amount goes for £50 and a 2cm by 2cm strip is a tenner.
Mark says the synthetic drug is sent in on legal letters, as prison staff are not permitted to open them. Often the paper has actually been sprayed with a toxic mix of antifreeze or rat poison.
Young and old, rich and poor fall into the drug’s deadly trap, which he says turns “normal people into psychos”.
“A guy in his 50s let slip that he had £350,000 in his bank and he was completely wiped out, that’s how much of that s**t he was smoking,” he says.”
Dangerous moonshine
Others hold out for prison moonshine – one type, called hooch, is brewed in emptied cleaning chemical tubs and sold for £40 a litre.
“I saw one tub of it explode in an officer’s face,” Mark says. “He pulled it out and there was a massive bang, the officer walked out dripping head to toe in hooch.”
A whopping 215.5 litres was confiscated back in September 2022, two months before lag Sheldon Jeans, 32, died from a deadly combination of the cell-brewed booze and medication.
At his inquest last year, the family’s lawyer noted it was “all too easy to access illicit substances in prison” and said evidence highlighted that “this problem is getting worse, not better”.
Mark says he is blowing the whistle on the issues at HMP Guys Marsh, which also occur at other lock-ups around the UK, in the hope for more investment and urgent change.
“As a country, it’s depicted that criminals are rehabilitated in prison when in actual truth they come out a lot more dangerous due to the failures of these institutions,” he says.
“I can’t stress enough how bad the Spice problem is in prison. It’s worse than heroin, it’s a horrendous drug that turns people into zombies.
“I’ve seen how it affects people first hand and it destroys lives. Users are seen as the scum of the earth and dregs of society, but they need help and fast.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson told us: “We inherited a prison system in crisis, plagued by drugs and violence.
“That is why across the estate – including at HMP Guys Marsh – we’re investing in security, implementing a tougher drug strategy and continuing to recruit more staff.”
The MOJ told us HMP Guys Marsh has taken a number of steps to improve conditions, including strengthening its leadership, overhauling day-to-day operations and bolstering efforts to tackle contraband entering the prison.
They insist the overwhelming majority of prison staff are hardworking and honest and they take robust action when officers do not adhere to their high standards.