Prisons (Drug and Alcohol Programmes) (Hansard, 16 March 1995)

§ Mr. Michael Forsyth

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated 16 March 1995: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about what drug or alcohol programmes are available; and what percentage of prisons have each type of programme. All prisons within England and Wales provide prisoners with access to education, treatment and counselling services for substance misuse via the prison health care centre, the probation service or outside agencies and visiting self help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. A survey in December 1994 of 130 prisons found that 119 prisons provide some form of additional treatment programme. Some but not all of these facilities are already used by both alcohol and drug misusers. The main types of treatment programme currently on offer are one-to-one counselling, group therapy and intensive treatment programmes such as therapeutic communities or the Minnesota 12-Step Programme. 78 per cent of prisons provide one-to-one counselling, 72 per cent provide group therapy and seven per cent provide intensive treatment programmes. As part of the new Prison Service drugs strategy, expected to be published in the spring, all prison governors will be required to develop and implement local drug strategies which will form part of their contract with their area manager. The local strategies will include provision for education, treatment and throughcare for prisoners who misuse, have misused, or are at risk of misusing drugs. Next month the Prison Service is launching the first phase of a new range of enhanced treatment services for drug misusers including: detoxification units; therapeutic communities; 3-month treatment programmes; intensive counselling and education services; and community-linked throughcare programmes. The effectiveness of the different programmes will be independently evaluated and the findings used to develop treatment programmes available to all prisoners according to their needs.