Reported decline in drug misuse in prison may be illusory

A substantial reported decline in prison drug misuse in recent years may be illusory: a report has suggested that prisoners may be learning how to cheat the random tests. It also says that such testing in prisons may be driving prisoners towards harder drugs.

Spending on drug treatment in prisons in England and Wales has increased 10 times since 1997, and the proportion of positive results from random mandatory urine tests has fallen by two thirds over the same period, according to Ministry of Justice figures, from 24.4% in 1997 to 8.8% in 2007.

But a report from the Centre for Policy Studies, a conservative leaning think tank founded by Margaret Thatcher, says that this improvement may simply reflect prisoners learning to cheat the test.

Corrupt staff are “a major trafficking route” into prisons, and government policies often encourage drug misuse, the report alleges: “From a drug user’s perspective, the dealer can be an illicit trader or the state. Both harness the power of the drug to influence behaviour. The former [illicit traders] say commit crime to get money to buy drugs; the latter [the state] says stop committing crime and we will give you drugs for free. Both want control. Neither offers freedom.”

The report is highly critical of drug testing in prison, which still uses urine samples even though mouth swabs have become the norm elsewhere. Prisoners have the right to provide samples away from direct observation, creating opportunities for substitution.

In addition, the report argues, the testing regime encourages prisoners to switch to harder drugs because opiates are detectable for only about one day, whereas some other drugs, such as cannabis, take longer to disappear from the body. Testing often follows a rigid schedule, allowing prisoners to plan their drug use for a negative result.

Truly random testing or testing on suspicion is allowed under the relevant Prison Service order but rarely used, says the report’s author, Huseyin Djemil, a former heroin and crack cocaine addict who became drug strategy coordinator for prisons in London.

Health services in prison often prescribe opiate based drugs, including methadone maintenance. Often this prevents authorities from proving that a positive test result was caused by illicit drugs. All of these shortcomings led the Scottish Prison Service to abandon random urine testing in 2005.

Instead of tracking drug abuse through random testing, the report says, authorities should use surveillance methods already permissible by law, such as monitoring prisoners’ telephone calls, to learn the methods and penetrate the networks of people who smuggle drugs into prison, aiming to stop the supply.

A Prison Service spokesman said, “We have never claimed that random mandatory test results are a complete measure of the prevalence of drugs misuse in prisons.” But, he added, independent research carried out by the Office for National Statistics has concluded that random mandatory testing is a reliable indicator of trends and does not result in prisoners switching from cannabis to opiate use.

Two current government reviews are looking into drug misuse among prisoners. One, by the former inspector of constabulary David Blakey, is examining ways to combat the supply of illegal drugs in prison. Its release is expected within days. Meanwhile, the prison drug treatment review group is looking at the entire process of offenders’ drug treatment. Spending on prison drug treatment, £12.7m (€16m; $25m) this year, is set to rise to £43m by 2011.