Jail drugs warning

More than 5,000 prisoners may be dependent on drugs, a report warns today.

The study, backed by 31 penal reform organisations, calls for an urgent expansion of rehabilitation programmes in the prison system in a bid to reduce drug problems and crime on release. Based on a survey of 2,000 prisoners, it suggests that 11 per cent of adult male prisoners, 6 per cent of young males and 23 per cent of women prisoners are drug dependent.

The report from the Penal Affairs Consortium concludes: "With a prison population of over 57,000, these figures suggest that more than 5,000 prisoners may be drug dependent." The study adds that a survey from Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs shows 57 per cent of prisoners used drugs during their current sentence.