Prison report criticises drug programme
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by Mary Graham
Concerns about the way a
national drugs programme is being implemented at an open prison
have been raised by a prison watchdog.
The Independent Monitoring Board
(IMB) inspected East Sutton Park Prison and have just published
their report covering November 2008 to October 2009.
It questioned the way the
Integrated Drug Treatment System (IDTS) is being implemented in the
prison, which has space for 94 women and six young offenders.
IDTS is a national scheme aiming to
wean prisoners with a drug dependency off drugs by using less
harmful methadone or subutex.
But the IMB’s report went on: "The
prison is virtually drug free and our understanding is that the
women do not want the intervention, particularly those who have
worked long and hard to address substance misuse problems.
"The board feels the programme is
misguided in its aims to target every prison and that in the case
of IDTS one size does not fit all."
Concerns were also raised that some
women were only being sent to the prison for very short periods,
such as two or three weeks before their release.
"Such a short period does not allow
for resettlement work to take place, the practice is unnecessarily
costly and serves no useful purpose," the board said.
The report did praise the
achievements of the prison which offers places to women offenders
who are coming towards the end of their sentences.
Women were given confidence by
prison staff, the IMB said, and are "encouraged to face their
problems and make their own efforts to turn their lives
around."
Inspectors also praised efforts to
build family ties through a series of courses for women such as
cookery and planning healthy meals, praised as important in helping
women adapt to life at home.
The report was written one month
before Jane Andrews, former aide to the Duchess of York, who was
sentenced to life for murder in 2001 after killing her boyfriend
Tom Cressman, absconded from the prison in November. Andrews was
later tracked down at a nearby hotel.
Tuesday, March 16 2010
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