Parliamentary Committees and Public Enquiries
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Prisons drugs crisis: ‘Dangerous culture of acceptance must be broken’ Justice Committee warns
Use of illicit drugs and the trade in them across prisons has reached ‘endemic’ levels, fostering a ‘dangerous culture of acceptance that must be broken’, a new report published today (October 31) by the Justice Committee has warned.
The ability of HM Prison and Probation Service to maintain safety and control, and offer effective rehabilitation, is being ‘critically undermined’ by the scale of the drugs crisis within the prison system, the cross-party Committee chaired by Labour MP Andy Slaughter concluded.
Without urgent reform to tackle the demand for drugs, the lucrative profits fuelling supply networks and the poor condition of the prison estate, this failing and unstable system will continue at ‘unacceptable human cost’, it said.
Chair comment
Chair of the Justice Committee and Labour MP Andy Slaughter MP said:
“The Committee’s findings during this inquiry were sobering: put simply the drugs crisis across the prison system has reached ‘endemic’ levels, fostering a ‘dangerous culture of acceptance that must be broken’.
“HM Prison and Probation Service’s ability to maintain safety and control, and offer effective rehabilitation, is being critically undermined by the scale of the trade and use of illicit drugs.
"Fuelled by inflated profits, the supply of drugs by organised criminal gangs into prisons is a constant pressure. This is compounded by failure to address and reduce the underlying demand for drugs and combat the alarming rise in the use of sophisticated drone technology.
“Highly potent New Psychoactive Substances are driving increases in violence, debt, and fatal overdoses, with the current testing regime failing to keep pace.
"Without urgent reform and investment that tackles the profitable supply networks, the discrepancies in treatment provision and purposeful activity, plus the poor physical condition of the estate, prisons will remain unstable, unsafe and incapable of gaining control over the drugs crisis.”
Original article link: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/102/justice-committee/news/209981/prisons-drugs-crisis-dangerous-culture-of-acceptance-must-be-broken-justice-committee-warns/
