EMCDDA DOCUMENTATION CENTRE
INFORMATION BULLETIN
DRUG USE & PRISONS - INFORMATION BULLETIN
19 February 2016
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GREY LITERATURE
HIV, HCV, TB and harm reduction in prisons: human rights, minimum standards and monitoring at the European and international levels
Sander, G
Harm Reduction International
London: February 2016
This report is not meant to be prescriptive, nor is it a revision of existing standards on health in prisons. It is an overview of prisoners’ health rights in relation to HIV, HCV, TB and harm reduction, as well as a broader collection of minimum standards and guidelines – drawn from both the public health and human rights fields - than what is normally applied by human rights-based prison monitoring mechanisms.
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/HIV_HCV_TB_and_harm_reduction_in_prisons-human_rights_minimum_standards_and_monitoring_at_the_European_and_international_levels.pdf
On point: recommendations for Prison-based Needle and Syringe Programs in Canada
van der Meulen, E; Claivaz-Loranger, S; Clarke, S; Ollner, A; Watson, T M
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Prisoners with HIV/AIDS Support Action Network (PASAN)
Toronto: January, 2016
Prison-based needle and syringe programs (PNSPs) provide sterile injection equipment to prisoners who inject drugs. Like community-based needle and syringe programs, PNSPs have been shown to be very effective in international contexts. Currently, however, Canadian prisons do not offer these programs. Since the early 1990s, a growing body of evidence has established the need for and benefits of PNSPs, and community organizations responding to HIV — as well as a growing number of other expert bodies — have repeatedly recommended their implementation in Canada. After 20 years of discussion and presentation of the public health and human rights case for PNSPs, it was evident there was no reasonable prospect of the federal government agreeing to their implementation within the foreseeable future. Therefore, in September 2012, Steven Simons (a former prisoner), along with the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Prisoners with HIV/AIDS Support Action Network (PASAN), Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, and CATIE initiated a constitutional court challenge seeking orders that would compel the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) to make sterile injection equipment available in federal prisons.
As the case progresses through the court system, community advocates, academics, infectious disease specialists, and others have been engaged in a variety of research and public educational activities in support of PNSPs, building on the extensive international work of the previous two decades. This report highlights three phases of these activities, each building on the previous one, which consisted of a stakeholder meeting (phase 1), prison site visits in Switzerland (phase 2), and a community-based research project (phase 3). We focus here mainly on the third phase, the primary aim of which was to develop a series of recommendations for PNSP implementation in Canadian federal prisons.
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/On_point-recommendations_for_Prison-Based_Needle_and_Syringe_Programs_in_Canada.pdf
Prison reform: Prime Minister's speech
David Cameron spoke at the Policy Exchange on prison reform including plans to give governors complete control over the way they run their prisons.
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/prison-reform-prime-ministers-speech
Prisons: Visits
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) drugs of each type and (b) other items were confiscated from visitors to each prison in each year since 2010 | They Work for You, UK
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2016-02-03.25586.h&s=drug#g25586.r0
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Stakeholder perceptions and operational barriers in the training and distribution of take-home naloxone within prisons in England
Sondhi A, Ryan G, Day E
Harm Reduction Journal 2016, 13, 5
Background
The aim of the study was to assess potential barriers and challenges to the implementation of take-home naloxone (THN) across ten prisons in one region of England.
Methods
Qualitative interviews deploying a grounded theory approach were utilised over a 12- to 18-month period that included an on-going structured dialogue with strategic and operational prison staff from the ten prisons and other key stakeholders (n = 17). Prisoner perceptions were addressed through four purposive focus groups belonging to different establishments (n = 26). Document analysis also included report minutes and access to management information and local performance reports. The data were thematically interpreted using visual mapping techniques.
Results
The distribution and implementation of THN in a prison setting was characterised by significant barriers and challenges. As a result, four main themes were identified: a wide range of negative and confused perceptions of THN amongst prison staff and prisoners; inherent difficulties with the identification and engagement of eligible prisoners; the need to focus on individual prison processes to enhance the effective distribution of THN; and the need for senior prison staff engagement.
Conclusions
The distribution of THN within a custodial setting requires consideration of a number of important factors which are discussed.
[FULL TEXT AVAILABLE]
Exploring prison drug use in the context of prison-based drug rehabilitation
Mjåland, K
Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 16 February 2016, DOI:
10.3109/09687637.2015.1136265
Aims:
The research on motivations and meanings associated with drug use in prisons has received little scholarly attention. Particularly, there are few studies analysing drug use in prisons from the perspective of both prisoners and prison officers, and in the context of prison-based drug rehabilitation. This article explores prisoners and prison staffs perceptions on why drug use occurs in prison.
Methods:
The data is derived from participant observation and qualitative interviews (N¼35) conducted during eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in two drug rehabilitation programmes in a closed Norwegian prison.
Findings:
Prison staff emphasises drug addiction and prisoners troubled life trajectories when explaining in-prison drug use. Prisoners, on the other hand, explain that drug use can be (a) a way to alleviate some of the pains of imprisonment; (b) an integral part of social life in prison; (c) a route to status in the prisoner community and (d) a defiant way to subvert institutional rules and expectations.
Conclusions:
Prison staff tends to privilege pre-prison characteristics when explaining prisoners’ drug use, whereas prisoners tend to privilege how the prison context motivates and give meaning to their drug use. Implications for penal policy and practice are discussed.
[FULL TEXT AVAILABLE]
NEWS STORIES
New report and monitoring tool: HIV, HCV, TB and harm reduction in prisons
Even though prisoners do not forfeit their human rights, such as the right to health, there is an enormous gap between health and human rights standards and their effective implementation in places of detention. This is according to a new report from Harm Reduction International which identifies some of the most important human rights and public health standards relating to HIV, HCV and TB in prisons, and the vital role of harm reduction provision in ensuring them.
http://www.ihra.net/contents/1674
Legal highs may have sparked HMP Dovegate riot
So-called legal highs could have sparked a riot at Dovegate Prison in Staffordshire, a report has found | BBC, UK
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-35560625
Preventing heroin overdoses on release from prison
A new research report looks into the difficulties in distributing “take-home” naloxone to released prisoners to try to prevent deaths from heroin and other opioid overdoses | Russell Webster, UK
http://www.russellwebster.com/naloxone-overdose-prevention-prisoners/
Use Your Head, Don't Lose It
The use of NPS is both a public health and media concern, with a recent report (http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/Changing_patterns_of_substance_misuse_in_adult_prisons_and_service_responses.pdf) from HM Inspectorate of Prisons suggesting that those engaged with the criminal justice system, including prisoners, are among the groups most likely to use NPS | Phoenix Futures, UK
http://www.phoenix-futures.org.uk/news/use-your-head-dont-lose-it?utm_content=buffera209d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Start prison-based needle and syringe programs, researchers suggest
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/02/12/start-prison-based-needle-and-syringe-programs-researchers-suggest.html
Prison needle programs touted to reduce HIV and Hep C
Researchers hope new government's "evidence-based" outlook will open door for safe injection programs in Canadian jails.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/02/03/prison-needle-programs-touted-to-reduce-hiv-and-hep-c.html