Policy
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The launch of the
‘Decency, safety,
security’ strategy for
prisons was greeted
with mixed reactions by
the Drugs, Alcohol, and
Justice Cross-Party
Parliamentary Group.
DDN reports
Bang for your Buck
he new prisons strategy promised a ‘back
to basics’ crackdown on drugs and mobile
phones, while also intending to ‘keep
prisoners busy’ by tasking them with
cleaning up yards and picking up rubbish,
explained prison minister Rory Stewart. It
would be piloted across ten prisons, and rolled out
across the rest of the prison estate if successful.
Joe Simpson, assistant general secretary of the
Prison Officers Association, praised the strategy’s
intentions but questioned if there would be the
resources to back it up. He mentioned the importance
of stopping drugs ‘at the wall and the gate’ but said
there were not enough officers to do this. ‘There is
lots of legislation, but not enough people to enforce
it’, he said.
Prison officers had been calling for mobile phone
blocking since 2007, he said, and while the technology
was available it wasn’t being used, which he claimed
was down to cost. Tools available to prison officers to
tackle drug use such as mandatory drug testing (MDT)
and random cell searches had unintended
consequences, and could lead to changes in drug using
behaviour and increased bullying, as inmates were
intimidated into holding drugs for dealers.
‘All we are doing is warehousing prisoners, then
breathing a sigh of relief if we get them out alive,’ said
Simpson. ‘As a prison officer you see the misery caused
by drug use’, he added, and emphasised the need for
an integrated approach that looked at the reasons
people use drugs and associated psychosocial issues.
But doing this ‘needs proper resourcing’.
This theme was echoed by Majella Pearce, deputy
head of healthcare for HM Inspectorate of Prisons. She
highlighted that ‘substance misuse doesn’t happen in
isolation’; that very good substance misuse services in
prison were not enough, and that there was an urgent
need for wraparound services.
T
24 | drinkanddrugsnews | June 2018
Of 39 prisons that had been inspected, only a
third met the required standard, 28 per cent of
prisoners had reported a problem with drugs and 14
per cent with alcohol. Changing drug use within
prisons was a big issue, with diverted medication
and NPS being the key concerns. The use of drug
testing was driving this as prisoners moved away
from cannabis to drugs that leave the system quicker
and are harder to detect.
harm reduction advice relating to the drugs most
commonly reported in the prison. Scherdel said that
NPS users were less likely to engage than traditional
drug users, but initiatives using music and art therapy
had been shown to be effective. While lack of
resources meant that they were currently unable to
implement a full recovery wing – but ran a
programme on a landing – anecdotal evidence
pointed to an 89 per cent completion rate.
‘There is lots of
legislation, but not
enough people to
enforce it.’
Joe SimpSon
Dedicated drug recovery wings were not the only
answer and varied in their effectiveness – but when
done well could be very effective, she said. This was
especially the case when there was integrated mental
health care and drug treatment: prisoners were more
likely to engage as they perceived less stigma around
mental health issues.
Louise Scherdel, project manager at Addaction,
told the group about Addaction’s approach to
working in jails in Lincolnshire. On reception, every
prisoner was offered a chemical assessment, then
seen again the next morning and offered specific
The charity worked with prisoners on release with
its ‘through the gateway’ programme, linking
prisoners with treatment services in the area and
family support teams, and providing harm reduction
services such as take-home naloxone on release.
‘There is a focus on enforcement and reducing
supply,’ commented Alex Boyt, as discussion opened
up to the group. ‘But a lot of drug use is linked to
depression – if you are banged up 23 hours a day and
under threat of violence from other prisoners, you are
more likely to self-medicate. It creates a vicious
downward spiral.’
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