EXTRA funding is needed to help one of the region's prisons improve drug rehabilitation, according to its board of visitors.

In its annual report, the board of visitors for Holme House Prison, Stockton, has called for money to be made available to help stop drugs being brought into the jail.

An application to the Government for money to create a drug detoxification unit in one of the prison's house-blocks was unsuccessful last year, but has been resubmitted.

If the application is successful, inmates will be offered the chance to go on a six-week detoxification course, and then move to an area of the prison where there are no drug users, or to the existing therapeutic drugs unit.

A spokesman for the board of visitors said: "In view of the extremely high percentage of inmates dependent upon drugs which are received at Holme House, this is an initiative the board heartily supports.

"The board is concerned with drug use which still exists despite significant progress during the year.

"Further financial support is necessary to control importation of drugs into the prison."

The board's report congratulates the prison on many new initiatives, including its sex offenders' profiling programme, and its plans for new schemes such as a sex offenders' treatment programme.

A new problem highlighted by the report is the influx of illegal immigrants, who were sent to the prison at the end of last year. The spokesman said: "When a number of illegal immigrants were transferred here it brought new problems, not least of all language, and this will be an ongoing feature.

"But despite a fluctuating population and changes in management, the morale in prison remains high."