§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of prisoners were estimated to be drug users(a) when they entered prison, and (b) when they were released from prison in (i) womens' prisons and (ii) mens' prisons in each of the last 15 years.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility 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 Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 13 February 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question on how many and what proportion of prisoners were estimated to be drug-users on entering and upon release from prison for both male and female establishments for each of the past 15 years.The information currently available on the prevalence of drug misuse among prisoners does not enable me to provide you with the information that you requested. However, the Prison Service will be introducing mandatory drug testing for prisoners. As part of the mandatory drug testing programme prisoners will be required to participate in random drug testing. This will provide statistical information on the extent of drug misuse in prison.