New study on mandatory drug tests for prisoners

Mandatory drug-testing of prisoners works best if treatment is integrated into the system, according to a study to be presented in Dublin tomorrow.

A survey of 148 prisoners in Britain by Oxford criminologist Dr Kimmett Edgar and the director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust, Dr Ian O'Donnell, found that some prisoners had switched to hard drugs to avoid detection.

Britain introduced mandatory drug-testing of all prisoners in 1996. Under the scheme 10 per cent of prisoners are tested at random every month.

Those who test positive face a loss of privileges such as open visits and days are added to their sentences.

According to the survey, three-quarters of prisoners use drugs in prison and more than a quarter of those using drugs said they had stopped as a result of mandatory testing.

Seventeen prisoners said they had reduced their drug use and just over 50 per cent said they had not changed their habits.

One in 10 of prisoners using drugs said they tried heroin to evade detection. Cannabis residue stays in the body for up to a month, whereas heroin remains for only three days.

"Some inmates felt that if they took heroin there was less of a chance of being caught," Dr Edgar said. "There was a fear that many prisoners would move to hard drugs, but the 11 people who had tried to evade detection did so by altering the balance of their drug use. Most were already multi-drug users," he said.

The study will be presented at an open forum on "Drugs in Prison" at the James Joyce Centre, 33 North Great George's Street, Dublin.