§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the currently available medical treatment for drug abuse within British prisons.
§ 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 Mr. A. Butler to Mr. David Hinchliffe, dated 18 January 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about medical treatment for drug abuse currently available in British prisons.
In England and Wales policy and guidance on this is set out in Circular Instruction 12/1991 and the resource manual "Caring for Drug Users"—a copy of which is/has been placed in the House of Commons Library. This covers Provision of Detoxification, General Health Care, Management of Drug Induced Psychiatric State, Harm Minimisation, Longer Term Treatment, General Lifestyles, Work etc. and Pre-Release Work.
The Prison Service is currently developing a strategy for dealing with drug misuse in prisons which includes a review of existing policy and advice in this area.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many known drug addicts have been identified within prison establishments in each year since 1990.
§ 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 Mr. A. Butler to Mr. David Hinchliffe, dated 18 January 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 number of known drug addicts in prisons for the years 1990 to 1993.
The number of prisoners reported by prison medical officers to the Addicts Index at the Home Office as required by the Misuse of Drugs (Notification & Supply to Addicts) Regulations 1993 follows.
Year Number 1990 1,420 1991 1,747 1992 2,586 Data for 1993 are not yet available.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many discoveries of(a) heroin, (b) cocaine and (c) cannabis were made by the Prison Service in each year since 1989.
§ 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 Mr. D. Lewis to Mr. David Hinchliffe, dated 18 January 1994:
468WThe Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about discoveries of heroin, cocaine and cannabis in the years 1989 to 1993.
The following table shows the number of heroin, cocaine and cannabis finds from 1991 to 1993 reported to the Incident Management Support Unit of the Prison Service. Records prior to November 1990 are not held centrally.
Heroin Cocaine Cannabis Total 1991 72 50 2,333 2,455 1992 99 65 2,081 2,245 1993 156 65 3,371 3,592
§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of(a) men and (b) women serving prison sentences in England and Wales for drug offences who were not British nationals as at 10 January.
§ 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 Mr. D. Lewis to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 18 January 1994:
DRUG OFFENCES
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking what was the number of (a) men and (b) women serving prison sentences in England and Wales for drug offences who were not British nationals as at 10 January.
The latest available provisional information is for 30 September 1993. On that date 767 foreign nationals (of whom 623 were male and 144 female) were recorded centrally as being under sentence for drugs offences, excluding any where drugs offences were not the principal offence. These figures include those born outside the UK for whom a nationality was not recorded.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the availability of prescribed methadone maintenance and withdrawal programmes within British prisons.
§ 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 Mr. A. Butler to Mr. David Hinchliffe, dated 18 January 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the availability of prescribed methadone maintenance and withdrawal programmes within British prisons.
In England and Wales policy and guidance relating to these matters are set out in Circular Instruction 12/1991 and the resource manual "Caring for Drug Users".
A detoxification programme should be offered, unless specifically contra-indicated, where a prisoner presents with signs of addiction which are verified by a prison medical officer. In the case of opiates a methadone detoxification programme is advised and details of suitable detoxification schedules are provided.
Current policy and advice is that methadone maintenance is not normally appropriate in prisons.
As with all medical treatment, decisions about individual treatment must be a matter for the clinical judgement of the doctor responsible.
The Prison Service is currently developing a strategy for dealing with drug misuse in prisons and is reviewing policy relating to methadone detoxification and maintenance as part of this work.
469W
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison staff have been(a) suspended and (b) disciplined for the possession or alleged possession or importation of an unlawful drug into prison establishments annually from 1990.
§ 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 Mr. D. Lewis to Mr. David Hinchliffe, dated 18 January 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the numbers of Prison Service staff who have been suspended and/or disciplined for the possession of drugs, or for trafficking drugs into or out of prison, since 1990.
The information available centrally is set out in the table below.
Year Suspensions Disciplinary action taken 1990 4 3 1991 5 4 1992 2 1 1993 1 1 1994 0 0 470W
Number of sales prosecuted for various homosexual offences 1989–92 England and Wales Offence description/age of offender 1990 1991 1992 Sexual Offences Act 1966, Section 12 as amended by the Sexual Offences Act 1967 Buggery, including attempt, with a boy under the age of 16 or with a woman or an animal under 18 38 35 23 18 to 20 13 22 19 21+ 299 267 312 Total 350 324 354 Buggery, including attempt, by a man with a male person of the age of 16 or over without consent under 18 3 4 — 18 to 20 3 1 2 21+ 24 26 38 Total 30 31 40 Buggery, including attempt, by a man of the age of 21 or over with another male person under the age of 21 with consent under 18 — — 1 18 to 20 1 2 1 21+ 9 17 12 Total 10 19 14 Buggery, including attempt, by a man with another male person other than above under 18 2 2 4 18 to 20 2 2 2 21+ 10 11 4 Total 14 15 10 Sexual Offences Act 1956 Section 13 as amended by the Sexual Offences Act 1967 Indecency by a man of the age of 21 or over with another male person under the age of 21 under 18 10 3 2 18 to 20 10 9 10 21+ 420 182 191 Total 445 194 203 Indecency by a man with another male person other than above under 18 10 4 5 18 to 20 38 22 16 21+ 831 594 550 Total 879 620 571
Year Suspensions Disciplinary action taken Total 12 9 There are three instances where disciplinary action was not taken. In two cases, the suspension was lifted when the members of staff involved were found not guilty of the criminal charges against them. In the remaining case the member of staff resigned before disciplinary action could be concluded.
Most of these cases concerned incidents away from the prison, and typically involve possession of small quantities of cannabis. In one case a member of staff was found guilty of possession of drugs and trafficking inside the prison.