The arrangements for the committal of inmates to Mountjoy Prison provide, in each case, for the completion of a detailed questionnaire at the time of committal. This questionnaire includes a section relating to the individual's drug history. In addition, all committals are medically assessed by one of the prison medical officers, usually within 24 hours of committal.
Most committals suffering from drug addiction readily volunteer this information when requested. Those who decline to discuss their drug status, may if they so wish, discuss the matter with the medical officer. It should be noted however that discussions between the medical officers and prisoners are confidential in the context of the doctor-patient relationship and that information gleaned from this source is not available to the prison authorities.
In many cases prisoners co-operate on a voluntary basis with drug urinalysis testing. Such testing issued sometimes in order to confirm a prisoners drug-addicted status prior to the commencement of a detoxification programme or conversely in order to ensure that a prisoner is drug-free prior to a transfer to another institution, such as the drug free training unit or to one of the two open prisons for male adults, Shelton Abbey and Loughan House. Refusal to co-operate in a urine test would tend to suggest that the prisoner has, or has recently had, illicit drugs in his system.