It is the powder wreaking havoc inside Teesside’s biggest prison.

Spice has been blamed for Holme House Prison wardens “dropping like flies” after inhaling it.

A 5.6kg smuggled spice stash - worth an estimated £200,000 - was found in cells last month, stuffed in cappuccino, Oats-so-Simple and Weetabix packets.

It was the biggest haul in UK prison history.

This week, a 68-year-old prison nurse became the UK’s oldest ever jailed drug smuggler after staff foiled granny Elsie Watson’s plot to bring spice into the Stockton jail.

But what is spice - and why it such a problem in Holme House?

What is Spice?

Packages of Spice
Packages of Spice

A mix of herbs and chemicals, the potion dubbed ‘fake weed’ was invented accidentally in an American lab by a boffin trying to create a new anti-inflammatory.

It was soon declared unfit for human consumption - but its popularity exploded during the legal high boom.

And its potency quickly saw it dubbed a ‘zombie’ drug due to the state it left users in.

Why is it popular in prisons?

It is cheap and strong.

And arguably, it is even more appealing to those dealing it than those smoking it.

At Watson’s sentencing, Teesside Crown Court heard prevalent “attractive commodity” with a high profit margin.

Available for as little a few quid a packet on the street, inside Holme House an ounce can fetch as much as £5,000.

Terry Fullerton, North East POA chairman said: “It’s so cheap to produce it has now become the drug of choice for prisoners.

“There’s that much of it knocking about on the outside that it’s easy to get a hold of.”

And perhaps most importantly, it doesn’t show up on drug screenings - making it much easier to smuggle in.

As such, Holme House is spending millions on state-of-the-art security to try and rid the jail of all drugs.

What impact is it having behind bars?

In a nutshell, total chaos.

Holme House security chief James Willoughby this week said prisoners were injuring staff after spice binges were giving inmates “many times their natural strength and endurance”.

He revealed how little spice was needed to spark violent reactions, while one strain caused convulsions, vomiting and extreme vital signs.

Incredibly, Mr Willoughby said users would return to reality with no memory of what happened.

And a union officially previously warned spice was leaving inmates with permanent brain damage.

It has also created a brutal behind-bars black market, with threats of violence towards the families of prisoners who have racked up spice-related debt.

And a court heard that if a debt-plagued prisoner moves cells, whoever replaces him inherits it - even if it nothing to do with them.

One Holme House death has already been linked to spice, with Christopher Hope’s inquest hearing he hung himself in 2015 after smoking it.

And after sparing ex-public schoolboy John Homer jail for a spice-fuelled A&E rampage, district judge Kristina Harrison claimed she knew of at least 23 spice-related custody deaths.

She added inmates had caused prisoners to castrate themselves - and even gouge their own eyeballs out.

What does a ‘Spice’ high feel like?

According to John Homer himself, absolutely awful.

He was in a coma for EIGHT days after taking some in his local, which ended with him manhandling a 6ft 4 copper with “frightening” strength as he flew into a rage inside North Tees University Hospital, in Stockton.

"I’ve never had a reaction like that in my life. The strength I had that night was frightening, but it felt like I was bi-polar,” said Homer.

John Homer
John Homer

“I just remember coming to the doorstep and thinking my dad didn’t look like himself.

The court heard police found him talking to himself in the foetal position, with Homer adding: “I was just trying to dig the garden up with my hands to try and escape from them.

“I just remember feeling out of control and frightened.”

Lying in hospital, he admitted: “I soiled myself in the bed and couldn’t tell anyone for three hours.”

Is it just prisoners being impacted by Spice?

Absolutely not.

Around 30 Holme House guards have been off work after being ‘spiced’ - in which they passively inhale the drug - creating a staffing crisis.

It effectively put the prison on “complete lockdown”, with staff parachuted in from other jails to help fire-fight.

A wife of one guard told the Gazette: ““Passive inhalation has put a huge strain on our marriage.

“He is having very bad nightmares, agitated, mood swings and weepy, this is my husband, whom I love with all my heart and hate seeing him like this.”

And another warned: “The problem is the more officers down with it, the fewer they have to deal with prisoners and the more they will have to lock them inside their cells to control them.

“And if they are locked up, all they will do is smoke this stuff - it is a vicious circle.”

A local hospital has also complained to Holme House that spice-related admissions were gobbling up valuable NHS resources.

How is it getting inside prison?

Drugs are often thrown over the prison walls or, like in Watson, brought in by visitors.

Courts have also heard claims people are deliberately trying to get jailed - just to smuggle drugs in with them.

But following the £200k Spice haul last month, a union official told the Gazette that shady criminal networks could now be behind the influx of Spice.

Holme House Prison visiting area
Holme House Prison visiting area

“There was so much that it’s doubtful it came in over the wall but personally I believe it’s down to organised crime,” added the anonymous official, who said Westminster cuts were also to blame.

“The blame lies with the government for our staffing issues,” he added.

“We basically need more staff and tighter security to get the issue under control.”

What is being done to stop it?

Since becoming a pioneering reform prison, around £9m will be pumped into the 1,200-prisoner jail to try and get rid of drugs completely.

Tough new sentences were introduced last year to try and snuff out smuggling.

And jailing Watson, Judge Stephen Ashurst said while nobody took pleasure in jailing a pensioner, the message had to be clear - all drug smugglers WILL be jailed.

“To pass in this case a suspended sentence or a community order would, I regret to say, send out entirely the wrong message,” he said.

“It might expose other parents, grandparents and children to run the risk knowing that the court might take a merciful view.”

And last May, the Government outlawed legal highs such as spice, although that has failed to stop them flooding the market.