§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research the Home Office has undertaken to determine the degree to which alcohol and illicit drug abuse is taking place in prisons; what change the figures represent on previous records; and what steps he has taken recently, or intends to take, in order to combat such abuse.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility 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 A. J. Butler to Mr. Frank Field, dated II February 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about the research which has been undertaken to determine the degree to which alcohol and illicit drug abuse is taking place in prisons; what change the figures represent on previous records; and what steps he has taken recently or intends to take in order to combat such abuse.
It is extremely difficult to establish with any satisfactory degree of certainty the degree to which alcohol and illicit drug abuse is taking place in prisons. This is because prisoners are understandably reluctant to admit to contravening prison rules. Most research has therefore focused on the use of alcohol and drugs by prisoners before they were imprisoned. A survey of 1,751 men serving a prison sentence (Maden, Swinton and Gunn, British Journal of Addiction 1992) showed that in 1988–89 43 per cent. of male sentenced prisoners had used drugs in the six months before their arrest. In the report "Mentally Disorderded Offenders" which was produced for the Prison Service by the same authors found alcohol and drug dependency (diagnosed on the basis of daily use during the six month period prior to their offence) as in the table below. The figures do not include cannabis users.
Adult males Young offenders Females Sample size 1,365 404 273 Alcohol (per cent.) 8.6 8.7 4.4 Drugs (per cent.) 10.1 6.2 24.2 Research is currently being conducted for the Prison Service by the Drugs Addiction Unit at the Institute of Psychiatry to establish risk behaviour for HIV in prisons. This includes questions about current drug use which, if a satisfactory response rate is achieved, should provide better information on illicit drug use.
The availability and use of drugs in our prisons is a matter of concern. The Government will be bringing forward a clause for inclusion in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill to allow the Prison Service to test prisoners for drug misuse. In addition to this the Prison Service is reviewing existing policy relating to drugs and is developing a Drug Strategy which will address ways of reducing the supply of drugs, of reducing demand (by means of improved indentification and treatment for drug misusers) and improved support for prisoners who have become drug free in prison on their return to the community.