DRUG ABUSE IN PRISONS AS A SECURITY RISK: CHALLENGES OF CONTROL AND PREVENTION
DRUG ABUSE IN PRISONS AS A SECURITY RISK: CHALLENGES OF CONTROL AND PREVENTION

Summary/Abstract: Drug use, mental health problems and blood-borne viral infections (including HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis) are serious health problems in prison populations across the criminal justice system. This makes the prison environment an important base for the provision of effective rehabilitation services related to addictions, in order to reduce the harm that drug use has on health, security in prison, and the community at large (through increased recidivism and infections after release). A large number of people entering the criminal justice system and prison have a history of drug use and injection. Many of these people continue to use drugs while in prison. The prison environment can have a positive impact on some drug users, helping them to stop or reduce their drug use, but for others, prison will be an environment in which they will shift to more harmful patterns of drug use. This paper aims to objectively present this penal and health problem in the prison population, but also to address the complex problem of drug abuse in prisons.

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