Seán Doherty
Question:77 Mr. Doherty asked the Minister for Justice the reason a drugs free unit is required in a prison. [7037/96]
Written Answers. - Prison Drug Free Unit.
The Deputy may be aware that there has, for some years, been a problem with illegal drugs in some of our prisons. This is due to the increasing numbers of committals who are suffering from drug addiction and also to the fact that illegal drugs are, despite stringent preventative measures, finding their way into the prisons.
The establishment of a drug free unit at the training unit which I announced last week is but one of a series of initiatives taken by me in response to this most serious problem. The concept of drug free areas within prisons is not new. They are a feature — and a most successful one at that — of penal systems in several other jurisdictions where, like our own, the abuse of illegal drugs has spilled over from the community into the prisons.
The drug free regime at the training unit will provide prisoners who have no history of involvement with illegal drugs with an opportunity to serve their sentences in an environment free from illegal drug abuse and from the influence of those who might seek to involve them in the practice. The unit will, in addition, provide a setting in which those prisoners who have, either through their own efforts or with the assistance of the new drug treatment facilities, which are due to commence operations at Mountjoy Prison in the near future, achieved drug free status, can ensure their longer term recovery.