Drug Use Among Prisoners Before, During and After Custody

This study examines the use of drugs in a Welsh prison within the context of drug use in the community as a whole. It involves a survey of custodial and non-custodial drug use among male inmates in a local prison population (n = 134) reporting drug use before custody and a different group of ex-prisoners on probation (n = 119) reporting drug use in prison and post-custody. In prison 75% used drugs; in the community 74% used drugs before and 82%) after custody. The results identify a minority of “hard” drug users and a majority of users of other drugs in prison; 68% used Cannabis, 25% Amphetamine and 10% Heroin. This is closely comparable to drug use in the community. Risk behaviours are high, 27.5% of the study population as a whole injected a range of drugs in the community and 14% did so in custody, where 9% reported sharing needles and syringes. There are implications for recent prison drug policies.