FOUR OUT OF FIVE NEW PRISONERS TEST POSITIVE FOR DRUGS

Up to 80 per cent of prisoners test positive for hard drug use when they
begin their sentences, the Director General of the Prison Service says.

Phil Wheatley warned of the extent of addiction to opiates, including
heroin, and cocaine among new inmates and remand prisoners in an interview
today with The Independent.

He said 55 per cent of those entering prison were classified as
"problematic" users of illegal drugs, including cannabis, with a further 25
per cent reporting some drug misuse.

But the trend is even more acute in some urban jails, where 80 per cent of
new arrivals are found to have "class A" drugs in their system, indicating
they had been taken within the previous 48 hours.

"The number of prisoners who come in who have got substantial drug habits
has increased over the years," Mr Wheatley said. "Making sure we can detox
people successfully is important." The prison service put 50,700 inmates on
detoxification programmes in 2002-03.

Juliet Lyon, the director of the Prison Reform Trust, said the numbers
indicated "both that the current drugs policies are failing and that
prisons are being asked to take up the slack for the lack of treatment in
the community".

Detoxification programmes are improving, Mr Wheatley said, with the numbers
of positive drug tests among serving prisoners halving in the past six
years. However, 11.7 per cent of prisoners were using some illegal
substance and 3.6 per cent had taken opiates.

It was impossible to stop any drugs reaching inmates, he said, adding:
"It's not possible to hermetically seal a prison."