§ Lord Hothfieldasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are taking to prevent detainees in Her Majesty's prisons from illegally obtaining drugs.
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Blatch):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 to Lord Hothfield from the Director General of the Prison Service, Mr. Derek Lewis, dated 7 March 1995
Lady Blatch has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the steps being taken to prevent detainees in Her Majesty's prisons from obtaining drugs.
Reducing the level of drug misuse is one of the Prison Service's main strategic priorities. As part of this, the Prison Service will shortly be launching a new and comprehensive strategy for reducing drug misuse. A wide range of measures is being planned to control the supply of drugs into prison including:
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- — wider use of closed (non-contact) visits for those found guilty of drug-related offences
- — increased use of sniffer dogs
- — more extensive use of closed circuit television cameras during visits
- — better use of intelligence to target drug dealers and those inmates and visitors attempting to smuggle drugs into prison
- — improved training for staff in identifying drugs and in searching techniques.
Mandatory drug testing for prisoners is a further element of the drugs strategy which is expected to increase significantly the detection of those misusing drugs and will send a clear message to all prisoners that if they misuse drugs they will now have a far greater risk of being caught and punished.