NEWS
Drug habits maintained in prison
Wednesday 2nd June 2010.
Thousands of prisoners are having their drug habits “maintained” in prison rather than being cured, according to a new study.
The centre-right think-tank Policy Exchange revealed in their Coming Clean report that 45,135 prisoners underwent detox programmes between 2008 and 2009, with many being prescribed substitute drugs such as methadone for three months or more.
Author of the report Max Chambers said: “The massive increase in opiate substitute medication has also created a new kind of trade for drugs in prisons, as methadone and buprenorphine are readily traded amongst inmates.”
The report states that one in six prisoners at any one time is receiving daily doses of methadone.
They predict that by 2011 up to 28,000 prisoners will be receiving methadone maintenance treatment, rather than being weaned off their habit.
A spokesman from the Department of Health said: "All treatment whether in or outside prison should be aimed at getting people off drugs and maintenance can be part of that programme.”
In response to the report, a penal reform charity has called for change in the way that addicted prisoners are dealt with.
Director of the Prison Reform Trust, Juliet Lyon, said: "To cut crime, save money and improve public health, more effort needs to be put into treating addicts in the community and reviewing current drug policies."
Christian Guy from the Centre for Social Justice, a prison reform organisation, welcomes the report: “We have to recognise and get to grips with the significant drug and alcohol trade in our prisons... The CSJ will be holding the new coalition government to account on its related commitments on these points, and wider social reform.”