ITVRoss Kemp temporarily lost the ability to speak after inhaling spice from a prisoner’s vape.
The actor and journalist was filming for his new two-part ITV documentary, Welcome To HMP Belmarsh With Ross Kemp, inside the notorious Category A men’s prison in south-east London when the incident happened.
In the shocking scene, Kemp can be seen holding a vape confiscated from one disorientated prisoner, before saying ‘It’s a regular vape’ and holding it close to his nose.
You can watch the trailer for the documentary below:
He then inhales twice, before one of the police officers tells him: ‘Don’t do too much, seriously.’ Kemp, 55, states: ‘I can actually feel that, and I can feel it.’ Looking dazed, he then fails to answer a question posed to him by the cameraman.
Writing for The Sun, the journalist said while he is ‘rarely lost for words’, as he turned to the camera he ‘lost the ability to speak’. He continued: ‘My brain has gone blank, my hands are clammy and my mouth is dry.’
These adverse effects aren’t surprising, particularly when the camera pans to the prisoner from who the vape was confiscated, who lies almost comatose on his bed, struggling to move. ‘He don’t look good does he,’ Kemp states.
ITVThe particular version of spice inhaled by Kemp is known as Man Down, with the presenter saying ‘it does exactly what it says on the tin’.
Kemp continued:
It is a potentially lethal combination of aluminium cleaner and insect killer, and the man who smoked it has collapsed. Prison officers and medical staff have responded to a Code Blue, where a prisoner has difficulty breathing or is unconscious.
As he is brought round by staff using citrus — which can knock off some of the effects of spice — he stares at me through bloodshot, dilated pupils and screams: ‘Get out of my f*cking cell.’ When I spoke to him the next day, he could not remember meeting me.
I asked him why he smoked the drug in his cell, considering he knew it was potentially harmful, and he told me: ‘It takes me out of here for four days.’ This is life in HMP Belmarsh.
ITVIn the documentary, Kemp gets unprecedented access to the country’s most notorious maximum security jail, which has housed the country’s most dangerous convicts – including Ian Huntley, Charles Bronson and Ronnie Biggs.
He will explore how staff cope with high-profile extremists, crime lords, gang members and common criminals all crammed in under one roof, while speaking to some of the inmates.
Viewers will also see Kemp meeting far right activist Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who spent nine weeks at Belmarsh after being jailed for contempt of court.
ITVThe first episode looks at the UK’s only Contingency Suite, a unit designed to hold high-profile prisoners deemed at risk of suicide or attack by other inmates.
Welcome To HMP Belmarsh With Ross Kemp airs on ITV at 9pm tonight, January 9.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).