Patrick Costello
Question:313. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Justice the drug rehabilitation services currently offered in each prison. [4094/22]
View answerThursday, 27 January 2022
Questions (313)
Written answers
I can advise the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service have a range of programmes, support services and through-care options for prisoners who wish to address their substance misuse. While drug treatment services are provided in all closed prisons, the same type of programmes are not offered in open prisons as a condition of transfer to an open prison is that the prisoner is drug free.
The Prison Service advise me that It is considered that approximately 70% of prisoners who are committed to custody have addiction issues. It is the policy of the Irish Prison Service that, where a person committed to prison gives a history of opiate use and tests positive for opioids, they are offered a medically assisted, symptomatic detoxification, if clinically indicated.
Patients can, as part of the assessment process, discuss other treatment options with healthcare staff; those treatment options may include stabilisation on methadone maintenance for persons who wish to continue on maintenance while in prison, and when they return to the community on release.
I am further informed that the Irish Prison Service engages Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) to provide a prison-based addiction counselling service. This service includes structured assessments and evidence-based counselling interventions, with clearly-defined treatment plans and goals.
The Merchant Quay Ireland service provides a range of counselling and intervention skills related to substance misuse and dependency. These skills include, motivational interviewing, motivational enhancement therapy, twelve step facilitation programme, cognitive behavioural therapy and harm reduction approaches. Prisoners are offered one to one counselling and group work interventions. Merchants Quay Ireland counsellors work to address presenting issues and to explore the underlying reasons for drug use and how this impacts on the prisoner and wider community.