(Hitchin and Harpenden)
(Con)
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision about
substance testing in prisons and similar institutions.
Drugs in our prisons are a major problem, which we need to do
more to tackle. A recent review by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of
prisons in 2015 showed that 52% of prisoners had used drugs in
the two months before they went to prison. A survey from 2016-17
showed that 31% of female prisoners and 47% of male prisoners
found it easy or very easy to get drugs in prisons. In 2016,
there were almost 11,000 incidents of drug finds in prisons in
England and Wales alone, with 225 kg of illicit drugs recovered.
Psychoactive drugs are a newer problem for our prisons system and
for our society, but they are a growing and dangerous problem,
and further action is needed. These drugs are often incorrectly
termed “legal highs”. Not only do they alter the mind in broadly
similar ways to class A drugs, but they have particularly
pernicious and damaging effects on mental health—on issues such
as anxiety and depression. A recent Centre for Social Justice
report in 2015 suggested that a majority of prisoners had tried
Spice, a particularly famous psychoactive drug. Last July, the
former prisons and probation ombudsman, Nigel Newcomen, said that
79 deaths were directly linked to psychoactive substances between
June 2013 and September 2016.
So what does this Bill actually do? Currently, the Prison Service
can test for prohibited drugs specified under the Misuse of Drugs
Act 1971. In order to add a newly formed and manufactured
psychoactive drug to this list of prohibited drugs, the
Government need to manually add each and every psychoactive drug
to it. As Members will fully appreciate, that can be cumbersome
and time-consuming. It is relatively easy for drug manufacturers
and chemical experts to get around the law. They do that by
producing slightly different versions of these psychoactive
drugs, which means that our Government and Prison Service are
entirely reactive and slow. As a result of our legislative
process, the Government can get a psychoactive drug added to the
banned list only after it is already doing a huge amount of
damage to our system.
The Bill is straightforward and simple. It allows a generalised
definition of “psychoactive drugs”, one provided by the
Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, to be added to the statute
book, which will allow the Prison Service to test prisoners for
any and all psychoactive substances, now and in the future. This
allows our Prison Service to be proactive, not reactive. As we go
through the legislative process, I would hope to get cross-party
and Government support—I can see the Minister of State, Ministry
of Justice, the hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (Rory
Stewart) in his place—to expand the powers of the Prison Service
to test for the misuse of pharmaceutical drugs and to provide for
generalised prevalence testing. That would allow prisons to have
a better understanding of the drugs that are running through the
system.
We spend lots of time in this House debating how to cut the
reoffending rates of prisoners. I believe, as I suspect do many
Members, that excising the cancer of drugs from our prisons would
be one of the most significant things we could do to cut
reoffending rates. We know that drugs are a problem, but the
Government and the Prison Service are fighting this with one hand
tied behind their backs. Let us untie that hand, and untie the
hands of prisoners who become addicted to or stay addicted to
drugs throughout their time in prison because there are, sadly,
too many drugs in our prisons.
If hon. Members are serious about prisons being drug-free, they
should support this Bill. If they are serious about
rehabilitation of offenders, they should support this Bill. If
they are serious about social mobility, by which I mean the
ability of men and women to leave prison without the burden of
drug addiction, so that they can get on and make the most of
their lives, they should support this Bill. I commend it to the
House.
Question put and agreed to.
Ordered,
That , , , , , , Mr , , Sir , , and present the Bill.
accordingly presented the
Bill.
Bill read the first time; to be read a Second time on Friday 6
July, and to be printed (Bill 195).
