Recently Released Prisoner deaths in Ireland, 1998 to 2005

The aim of this study was to investigate deaths following release from prison among individuals recorded on the National Drug-Related Deaths Index (NDRDI). A descriptive analysis of individuals with a history of imprisonment in the NDRDI from 1998 to 2005 was undertaken. Between 1998 and 2005, 130 (5.3%) of the recorded cases had a documented history of imprisonment, 105 of whom were not in prison at the time of their death. Of these 105, 89% were male, 62% were aged between 20 and 29 years, 84% were unemployed, and 10% were homeless. Almost two thirds (61%) had a history of injecting drug use, and 34% were reported to be injecting at the time of their death. Almost one third (28.1%) of the deaths occurred within the first week of release from prison, with a further 18%
in the first month. Opiates were implicated in 89% of all poisonings in the first month after release from prison. Additionally, 62% of these poisonings involved polysubstance use. The study highlights the need for more intensive prevention measures in the period immediately following release from Irish prisons, including the development of a national overdose prevention strategy.

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Australia:Prisoners should have needle exchange

Needle exchange programs should be introduced in Victoria’s prisons to reduce the transmission of blood-borne viruses, the Australian Medical Association’s Victorian president says.Dr Harry Hemley said needle exchange programs in the wider community had significantly reduced the spread of Hepatitis C and other blood-borne viruses.

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‘Brutal’ conditions foster drug use, says Mountjoy governor

Mountjoy  governor John Lonergan has said overcrowding in the jail is now so acute and the conditions so “brutal” and “appalling” that they foster inmate drug use rather than help break drug addiction.

He has announced his decision to retire next month, three years early, after 26 years as prison governor.

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Heroin Addicts to be given clean needles when they are released from custody

Plans to provide clean needles to criminals when they are released from custody could shortly be rolled out across Northamptonshire, police have said.

Under the pioneering Needle Exchange Programme, which is to be launched as a pilot in Corby and Wellingborough police stations, drug addicts would be offered the chance to swap used needles for clean ones after they have been arrested.

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Report highlights ‘drugs problem’ at HMP Durham

Drug abuse continues to be a serious problem at one of the North East’s prisons, inspectors have concluded.

One in four inmates at HMP Durham is using illicit drugs, the HM Inspectorate of Prisons said following an unannounced visit in October. Arrangements for prisoners on the heroin substitute methadone are also “unsatisfactory” said the report.

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Australia Jails ‘a source’ of blood-borne diseases

Australia’s jails are a major source of new blood-borne infection, a harm reduction group says in a call for a controlled needle exchange for inmates. Bans on prisoners possessing drugs and syringes have failed to stop their now commonplace use behind prison walls, says The Association for Prevention and Harm Reduction Programs Australia (Anex).

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1,290 drug seizures in jails last year

Pledges by the Government to remove the scourge of drugs from jails have been ridiculed with figures revealing there were 1,293 drug seizures in prisons last year.

Almost half the drug finds and seizures were made in Mountjoy Prison, the country’s largest jail.
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Under the Skin: A People’s Case for Prison Needle and Syringe Programs

What do people in prison have to say about the Canadian government’s unwillingness to permit the distribution of clean needles in prison? How has this policy, that denies the realities of injection drug use in prison, affected individuals who are struggling with drug addiction? And what does this mean for the community as a whole? The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network sought to answer these and many other questions by interviewing people from across the country to learn more about their experiences with injection drug use in federal prisons.
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Letters from Prison

This incredibly moving short film reveals what life is really like behind bars through a series of letters received by the filmmaker from his incarcerated friends over a period of three years.

Shane Phelan: Drug-free jails impossible unless regime is inhuman