Third of cons leaving jail test positive for drug use

ONE in three inmates leaving Edinburgh's Saughton Prison after completing their sentence tests positive for illegal drugs, figures have revealed.

Prison bosses carried out random tests on nearly 100 prisoners as they prepared to go back into the community in a bid to identify the extent of drug abuse within the jail walls.

Positive tests were given for drugs including heroin, with one in five liberated inmates displaying recent usage, as well as cocaine, cannabis and prescription medication such as valium.

The figures today sparked calls for more "robust measures" to prevent drug use in prison, including glass screens in visitor rooms to prevent smuggling.

However, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said its security procedures, coupled with treatment programmes for addicts, helped ensure a large reduction in drug use among inmates following their incarceration.

The total was higher than the average for Scottish jails, which sat at 26 per cent, but lower than Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and Perth.

The study, carried out for the Drugs Misuse Statistics Scotland report, revealed that nearly two-thirds of prisoners tested for drugs as they started a sentence at the city jail tested positive.

More than a quarter had taken heroin recently, with 53 per cent showing cannabis use while ten per cent still had cocaine in their system.

The report comes after an answer to a parliamentary question last month showed that 225 drug seizures were made at Saughton in the first 11 months of the year. Only Glasgow's Barlinnie jail had a higher total with 256.

Gavin Brown, Lothians Tory MSP, said: "With there being on average four drug busts every week and a third of prisoners leaving with a drug problem, it is clear that more needs to be done.

"Robust measures must also be applied to anyone supplying drugs to prisoners with visiting privileges withdrawn and, in persistent cases, charges brought.

"We would also consider some prison visits taking place behind glass screens."

Mr Brown has called again for mandatory drug testing of prisoners following the release of the figures from the 2007-8 study.

An SPS spokeswoman said: "The use of drugs is not tolerated in prisons. But over two thirds of prisoners admit to drugs use before arriving in prison. We have invested in technology, enhanced physical security and increased numbers of sniffer dogs. SPS is making it harder for drugs to be introduced into prison. Finds in HMP Edinburgh reduced from 281 to 124."

The latest figures from 2008-9 show that 71 per cent of prisoners arriving at prison had illegal drugs in their system, compared to 29 per cent upon release.

Prisoners at the jail have previously spoken to the Evening News of "epidemic" drug use within the prison.

It is believed that a gram of heroin can sell for 150, five times higher than the 30 it would fetch on Edinburgh's street. Inmates leaving prison have often run up large drug debts inside.