Four out of five prisoners test positive for drugs

In a shocking revelation it appears that a third of prisoners in Scottish jails are using drugs at the time of their release.

The statistics which were revealed by Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson, were in reply to a parliamentary question by SNP backbencher Stewart Stevenson.

According to the Scottish National Party the figures demonstrate the need for the Scottish Executive to do more to tackle the causes of crime.

Meanwhile the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has defended the work it does to tackle the problem of drugs in prison.

SPS chief executive Tony Cameron, who provided the minister with the figures, points out that four out of five prisoners tested positive for drug misuse on their arrival at prison.

In defence of the prison authorities, he says SPS random testing of drug use in prison indicated that less than 20% tested positive, but liberation testing in December 2004 has suggested that about 30% were drug users on release.

Kenny MacAskill, the SNP justice spokesman, says it is clear that prisons are not equipped to treat the problem of drug addiction.

He also says that in cases where petty offending was caused by a drugs problem, rehabilitation, rather than prison, was needed.

Mr MacAskill says there is a need to address the root of the problem in these cases, which is the drug addiction itself and not the petty crime.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive says the prison service has a range of projects which deal with prisoners who are addicted when arriving in jail, but emphasises that the high level of addiction reflects a problem for society as a whole.

She denies any suggestion that drugs are tolerated in prisons.

The SPS takes the issue of drugs very seriously says a spokeswoman, but out of every five prisoners arriving at their doors, four are testing positive for some sort of drug misuse, and as that goes down to 30% on release, it means they are tackling 50%.