Changing Prison Drug Culture Is Possible

With his most recent inspection report finding that more than half of the inmates in one prison tested positive for illegal drugs, Mr Taylor painted a bleak picture of the drug market in prisons:

• Despite some positive security initiatives, the profits to be made mean that there continues to be a steady supply of drugs into prisons through visits, goods deliveries, drones, and corrupt staff.
• With almost half of all people entering prison having pre-existing drug problems, and many more developing a problem inside, there is an extensive and highly profitable market for illegal drugs in most prisons.
• Prisoners’ time spent on scoring, using, and being under the influence of drugs, means that positive activities like education, work and (ironically) drug addiction treatment, are undermined.

But he also made the very important, and very true, point – however hard we try to reduce the supply of drugs in prisons, we will not find a solution until we manage to suppress demand. As long as most prisoners want to get high most days, the market and all the associated intimidation, debts, violence and overdoses will continue.

But there is some good news – we do have a proven model for reducing demand for drugs in prison, that also helps prisoners to overcome addiction and avoid a return to crime on release. This involves designating specific wings in a prison as locations for people who want to stay away from drug dealing and use, and offering them the therapy and support to stay drug free.

There were dozens of these treatment wings in operation 15 years ago but – amazingly as research had shown they were effective in reducing prison drug problems and crime rates on release – most were closed down in the austerity years. It is these cuts, combined with the dramatic reduction in prison officer numbers, that have led to the rise of prison dealing gangs.

The Prison Service has recently rediscovered the value of this approach, with the roll out of an initiative called ‘Incentivised Substance Free Living’ units (ISFL’s). Unfortunately, despite good intentions, many of the new ISFL’s are poorly designed and managed and, crucially, the vast majority do not offer any meaningful treatment to help prisoners get off and stay off drugs. Working with prisoners who have long histories of addiction, trauma and crime, these well intentioned initiatives will therefore struggle to make a difference – but if we learn the lessons from 10 years ago, we can turn the power balance on the wings back in favour of those who want to use their time in prison positively.