Vol. 468 No. 4
574 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Justice the facilities available in the new health unit in Mountjoy Prison for the treatment of drug addicted prisoners; the number of beds in the unit; the reason the full complement of beds will not be utilised initially in view of the large number of prisoners in need of medical treatment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15102/96]
The health care unit at Mountjoy prison is the location for a new treatment facility for drug addicted prisoners. The treatment options available at the unit include: humane detoxification, tailored to meet individual needs and a structured programme of therapy aimed at enabling addicts to avoid becoming reinvolved with drugs and drug abuse. In addition, subject to criteria such as sentence length, methadone maintenance which is widely employed as a stabilisation/harm reduction strategy, will be made available in suitable cases to individual prisoners. All prisoners undergoing treatment in the unit will be monitored by daily drug urinalysis in order to ensure compliance with their treatment regimes.
575 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Justice the measures, if any, that will be considered to identify persons who are drug addicts on entry into Mountjoy Prison as is carried out in other jurisdictions (details supplied) in view of the high level of drug abuse among prisoners in the prison. [15103/96]
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.
