Written Answers. - Prison Drug Treatment Services.
Róisín Shortall
Ceist:
225
Ms Shortall
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
the medical services available to heroin addicted prisoners in Mountjoy Prison; his views on methadone maintenance programmes; the reasons person on these programmes in the community cannot continue on this treatment when imprisoned; the plans, if any, he has in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[16759/98]
Tony Gregory
Ceist:
228
Mr. Gregory
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
the treatment procedures, if any, offered to all prisoners suffering from drug addiction on entry to prison.
[16835/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 225 and 228 together.
The abuse of drugs within the prison system is confined largely to the committal institutions in the Dublin area. The problem is most acute in Mountjoy Prison which, as the State's main committal prison, has a large daily throughput of prisoners, many of whom have long histories of drug abuse which they try to maintain while in custody. Most of the other prison institutions are relatively drug free.
A number of measures have been introduced in recent years to curtail the smuggling into and use of illegal drugs in the prison system. These include video surveillance, improved visiting and searching facilities, increased vigilance by staff and urine testing. It has been my policy to continue with these efforts to reduce the level of drugs in the prison system.
Efforts to eliminate the supply of drugs coming into our prisons are not enough on their own. The education, treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicted offenders is important and there are, accordingly, specially designed information programmes addressing the risks associated with the misuse of drugs in place in all of our prisons.
The medical treatment of drug addicts, in common with the provision of all medical services in the prison system, is co-ordinated by the director of prison medical services. The director liaises regularly with the health boards to ensure a level of primary health care for prisoners which is equivalent to that available in the community. Developments in medical services for drug addicts in the community are closely monitored with a view to their application in prisons where practicable.
Extensive treatment facilities are in place in Mountjoy Prison to address the drug abuse problem there. During 1997, approximately 1,650 inmates benefited from the standard 14 day drug chemical detoxification programme operated under medical supervision in the prison. In addition, about 130 inmates have been admitted to the Drug Treatment Unit which opened there in July 1996. This facility is operated by the medical personnel in the prison and is aimed at weaning addicts off drugs by means of gradually reducing dosages of substitutes such as methadone. The programme is modelled on similar hospital based units in the community. In addition to those inmates admitted to the health care unit, methadone may be prescribed by the medical officer for offenders who are accommodated in the general prison population in Mountjoy Prison and indeed in any of the other institutions.
It is policy to provide an equivalent standard of health care for prisoners to that available to other citizens, including, where medically indicated, methadone maintenance. Methadone maintenance is provided to a limited number of prisoners at present but it has proven impossible, to date, to devote a secure area for the supervised provision of a methadone maintenance programme to all suitable prisoners. This is as a result of overcrowding in the prison system in general and in Mountjoy Prison in particular where the need for such maintenance programmes is greatest.
I am satisfied that the various treatment options available to drug addicts in prison are making a positive contribution to both the fight against drug abuse generally in Irish society today and to the health of the individual inmates who have the motivation to deal with their addiction. I accept that more work is needed to extend the range of drug treatment facilities in the prison system and my Department is currently examining the feasibility of further expansion of drug treatment options generally. As I have indicated already, progress in this respect is constrained for the present by the serious limitations imposed by overcrowding in our committal prisons. This constraint will be greatly lessened as the prison building programme proceeds.
