An abandoned Birkenhead pub was used as a cannabis farm and operated by men later found to be modern slaves.
Police found just under 300 cannabis plants when they raided the Windsor Castle in Birkenhead on August 4 last year.
The men, from Albania and in the UK illegally, were arrested and Liverpool Crown Court heard today that their situation showed characteristics of modern slavery.
However, all later admitted being involved in growing cannabis.
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John Williams, prosecuting, said that after their arrest the men were assessed through the National Referral Mechanism, a system set up to identify potential victims of modern slavery.
He said “findings were made that there was reasonable grounds that they were in fact modern slaves”.
No reference was made in court to who may have been responsible for exploiting the men.
The men were found by police in an area above the bar of the Oxton Road pub, with heating equipment and a large number of cannabis plants.
There was an illegal electricity supply hooked up in the building and the plants were split into four growing areas in different rooms.
Mr Williams said: “There were some 295 plants recovered by the police. They had a valuation, depending on yield, of between £41,000 and £371,000.
“On any view it is a sophisticated and commercial operation.”
Judge Stuart Driver QC indicated during the hearing that he would sentence the men to ten months in prison after each admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis.
Barristers representing each of the three men said they agreed with the judge’s assessment, meaning full mitigation for each of them was not heard.
A fourth man arrested at the same time as the men jailed today was acquitted by a jury at a trial earlier this year.
Sentencing the men, Judge Driver said the men, who have been in custody since their arrest, would serve the rest of their jail terms in Britain before likely facing deportation.
He said: “Any community sentence would be unrealistic because of your immigration status and because, in reality, you have already served the majority of this sentence.”
