March 17, 2008: More Cash For Prison Drug Treatment

The Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health have announced extra funding to raise the standard of clinical drug treatment in prisons.

The £12.7 million already announced for this current financial year will rise to £24 million 2008/9, £39 million on 2009/10 and £43 million the year after. This additional funding will further develop the integrated drug treatment systems in prison.

Also announced today is the creation of a national Prison Drug Treatment Review Group to oversee the development of prison drug treatment. This review, as part of a range of measures aimed at tackling reoffending by getting prisoners off drugs and into work, will be chaired by Professor Lord Kamlesh Patel.

Prison drug treatment services have developed rapidly in the last few years, with record numbers of offenders engaged in treatment. Drug use in prisons, as measured by random mandatory drug tests shows that the positive rate has fallen by 64% over the last 10 years from 24.4% in 1996/97 to 8.8% in 2006/07.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers report commissioned in 2007 acknowledged the considerable investment in prison-based drug services over the last decade, but indicated a need for a more strategic and evidence-based approach to service delivery, which is now being addressed.

The principal recommendation is to set up a National Offender Drug Strategy Group to commission a series of projects that would:

• determine and agree the key outcomes needed for prisoners and offenders, both in prison and on release into the community;
• establish a set of national minimum standards for drug treatment in prison;
• Identify opportunities for achieving efficiency savings to invest in prison and offender drug treatment services;
• examine the case for prioritising some groups of prisoners and offenders;
• develop the commissioning model at national, regional and local level;
• develop a single health and a single criminal justice funding stream to target services more effectively;
• agree systems for improved information sharing to support better quality performance management and case management

Prisons Minister David Hanson MP said:

'It is essential that we rigorously address the damage wrought by drug dependence for the sake of those who misuse drugs, their families, wider society and future victims.'

'Effective drug treatment lies at the heart of reducing reoffending. It directly addresses the harm to individuals, making communities safer and helping offenders to lead law-abiding and productive lives on release.'