Read the full stories, and more, online
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
GOVERNMENT SEEKS TO ADDRESS
PRISONS CRISIS WITH EXTRA STAFF
‘Prisons should be
places where
offenders get off
drugs and get the
education and
skills they need
to find work and
turn their back on
crime for good.’
eLIzAbeth tRuss
JUSTICE SECRETARY ELIZABETH TRUSS
HAS ANNOUNCED FUNDING TO
RECRUIT 2,500 MORE PRISON
OFFICES as part of the government’s
new prison safety and reform white
paper. There will also be new
measures to test offenders on entry
and exit from prison ‘to show how
well jails are performing’ in getting
them off drugs and giving them basic
education and employment skills.
The white paper also includes
measures to introduce no-fly zones
over prisons to stop drones being
used to drop drugs inside the prison
walls, as well as extra sniffer dogs.
Prisons should be ‘places where
offenders get off drugs and get the
education and skills they need to find
work and turn their back on crime for
good’, said Truss.
Deaths in custody rose by 30 per
cent in the year to June 2016, while
suicides and assaults on staff rose by
28 per cent and 40 cent respectively
(DDN, September, page 4). A recent
report by the Prison and Probation
Ombudsman said that prison
authorities must to do more to tackle
the role of NPS and associated debts
in the rising and ‘unacceptable’ levels
of violence in the prison estate (DDN,
October, page 4).
RAPt CEO Mike Trace – whose
organisation recorded a seven-fold
increase in reports of NPS use in
SKEWED SYSTEM
BLACK AND ASIAN MEN are about 1.4 times
more likely to receive a custodial sentence
for drugs offences than white men,
according to the interim report from David
Lammy MP’s review of race and the criminal
justice system. For every 100 white women
handed custodial sentences at crown courts
for drugs offences, meanwhile, 227 black
women are sentenced to custody. The
review, which was commissioned by David
Cameron, is due to publish its full report
next year. ‘These emerging findings raise
difficult questions about whether ethnic
minority communities are getting a fair deal
in our justice system,’ said Lammy.
Black, Asian and minority ethnic
disproportionality in the criminal justice
system in England and Wales at www.gov.uk
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
prisons last year – said that while it
was vital to undermine the prison
drug market, more also needed to be
done to reduce demand. ‘More than
half of new arrivals in prison are daily
users of drugs, or dependent on
alcohol,’ he said. ‘Most seek to
continue using inside and, if a way
isn’t found to turn them away from
the dealer and towards treatment
and recovery, their demand fuels the
profits of the gangs, which itself is
behind most of the violence, disorder,
and health emergencies in prison
today. We call on the new secretary of
state for justice to tackle the issue by
prioritising effective drug treatment
in the criminal justice system.’
The call for more investment in
treatment was echoed by CGL
executive director Mike Pattinson,
who also stressed the need for
better education, training and
employment support, as well as
provision of safe accommodation on
release. ‘Disappointingly there
remains a complete absence in
thinking and action about some of
the other fundamental concerns that
impact upon the prison population
and therefore the safety of those
being detained, namely sentencing
reform and a sensible debate about
the role of prisons in a modern
society and who should be
incarcerated,’ he added.
White paper at www.gov.uk
TalkingDrugs.org
EASY DECISION
FRANCE HAS OPENED ITS SECOND
CONSUMPTION ROOM, less than a month
after the country piloted its first project in
Paris (DDN, November, page 4). Councillors in
the city of Strasbourg voted 90 per cent in
favour of the facility, which has a capacity for
up to 150 visits a day. A third facility, in
Bordeaux, is set to open soon.
URGENT UPSCALE
THERE IS AN URGENT NEED TO SCALE UP
NEEDLE AND SYRINGE PROGRAMMES (NSP)
and opioid substitution therapy (OST) to keep
pace with growing need, according to HRI’s
latest Global state of harm reduction report.
Out of more than 150 countries where
injecting drug use is reported, nearly 70 still
do not provide NSP – with no new countries
establishing it since 2014 – while just 80
implement OST. ‘The 2011 UN target to halve
HIV among people who inject drugs by 2015
was missed by 80 per cent,’ said report author
Katie Stone. ‘Now people who inject drugs
are being left ever further behind.’
Report at idpc.net
DESPERATE MEASURES
Are ethnic
minority
communities
are getting a
fair deal in
our justice
system?
DAvID LAMMy
NEW GUIDELINES for the management of coexisting
severe mental illness and substance use – ‘dual
diagnosis’ – have been published by NICE. Aimed at
commissioners, providers, frontline staff, families,
carers and others, they cover issues like referral, care
plans and improving service delivery. The guidelines
were ‘desperately needed’ said chair of the guideline
committee, Professor Alan Maryon Davis. There
needs to be ‘much wider recognition that this group
of people, despite their complexities, have as much
right to dedicated care and support as anyone else,’
he stated. ‘They should not be turned away or left to
flounder. Every effort should be made to help them
benefit from the services they so badly need. Crucial
to this is a non-judgmental, empathetic approach
and the building up of mutual respect and trust.’
Available at www.nice.org.uk
Guidelines ‘desperately
needed’
ALAN MARyoN DAvIs
December 2016 | drinkanddrugsnews | 5