What's the point of prison if we don't tighten up drug tests - chief inspector

Published on Wednesday 25 August 2010 17:57

SCOTLAND'S chief inspector of prisons has warned drug testing needs to be tightened up along with swifter access to violence-prevention programmes to reduce re-offending on release.

• Brigadier Monro wants to introduce random drug tests in prisons Pictures: Neil Hanna

Brigadier Hugh Monro wants mandatory tests for all people arriving at and leaving prison, and random surprise tests for current inmates.

At present prisoners are tested if they admit to having a problem, or if prison staff suspect they do, but mandatory tests only take place during two months of the year, with the next ones scheduled for November 2010 and February 2011.

Brigadier Monro, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMIP), said ineffective testing renders addiction programmes "pointless", leaves jails less safe from smuggling and other drugs-related problems, and increases the likelihood that addicts will continue to offend to fund their habits after they have been released.

He said: "It (current drug testing) is not sophisticated enough to inform prison governors. We need to find a better way. Smuggling illegal drugs, in my view, is leading to less safe prisons.

"What's the point of prisons? Surely, one is to make sure we address the underlying causes of offending, and addiction, be it to alcohol or drugs, is likely to be one of the main ones.

"If we are putting resources into tackling addictions, then it seems pointless to do that and at the same time allow illegal drugs to go round. I suspect improving the system will require better resourcing."

An estimated eight out of ten people are addicted to drugs when entering Scottish prisons.

The HMIP report into Glenochil Prison, in Clackmannanshire, which was released yesterday, found that only six per cent still had problems by the time they left.

However, a previous report into Perth Prison placed that number at 28 per cent.

In both cases the figures only refer to people who left prison in the two separate months of the year when the tests were carried out.

Brigadier Monro also highlighted the length of time prisoners wait to attend violence-prevention programmes, which long-term prisoners, who have been jailed for violence, should complete before they are freed.

The chief inspector said that, because of the backlog and delays, he cannot be sure this is happening and that violent prisoners, who have not been rehabilitated, are not being released back into communities and posing a high risk of re-offending.

He said: "It should not be happening but I can't give a categorical answer that it is or is not.

"I will be carrying out a Progression Audit looking at the whole process of how the prisoner goes through the prison system to the point of liberation, how are the risks assessed and how are the risks managed."

He was asked to carry out the audit by Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill following the case of Robert Foye who raped a 16-year-old girl in Cumbernauld, in August 2007, after absconding from Castle Huntly open prison, near Dundee.

Brigadier Monro said he was confident the issues he has raised are on the Scottish Prison Service's radar.

The SPS is currently reviewing its drug-testing policy, but a spokesman defended the way they are currently carried out.

He said: "We've moved towards looking at drugs as a medical and health issue, rather than just a justice issue. Our testing is risk-led - if we have intelligence to make us believe that someone has a problem we will test them.

"We had mandatory drug testing for a number of years, where a degree of the prison population was tested every month. We moved away from that because it was not supporting treatment or helping people tackle their addictions."

The spokesman added: "Violence prevention is quite intensive - it's 200 hours. There's a bottleneck in people being assessed, but steps are under way to address that."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We understand that SPS is currently reviewing drug-testing measures in prisons and we await the outcome of that review."