Illicit Drug and Injecting Equipment Markets Inside English Prisons: A Qualitative Study

• NCJ Number: 203397
• Journal: Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 37 Issue: 3/4 Dated: 2003 Pages: 47-64
• Author(s): Rhidian Hughes
• Date Published: 2003
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This qualitative research invited 24 drug injectors with prison experience in Great Britain to discuss the role and operation of illicit-drug and injecting-equipment markets inside prisons.

Abstract

The data, which were obtained from in-depth interviews and small group discussions, focused on why and how drugs and injecting equipment enter prison from outside; the maintenance of supplies inside prison; and the availability of drugs and injecting equipment, with attention to the quality of injecting equipment. The analysis of the interviews found that drugs and injecting equipment are brought into prison from the outside to maintain drug dependency of inmates, who have no means of accessing a drug supply from inside the prison. The two primary means by which drugs and injecting equipment enter prison are with the inmates when they first enter prison and through visitors to inmates. The drug and injecting equipment are typically concealed in body cavities. Drug injectors rely on other people for the provision of sterile injecting equipment. This means there is little choice regarding the equipment received. Drug-injecting activities inside prison are clandestine and involve considerable planning and organization. Direct trading to secure drugs and injecting equipment in prison involve trading and the shared use of resources. The reciprocal giving of drugs and injecting equipment, the provision of drugs on credit and associated problems with debt, along with the theft of drugs pose significant harm to the inmates. Drug use by inmates is, at least partly, due to oppressive prison regimes where drugs are used in a desperate attempt to combat boredom and isolation. A holistic prison policy should address the reasons why drug injectors are sentenced to prison, how their imprisonment can be reduced, why drug injectors' need for illicit drugs is sustained in prison; and how integrated drug treatment strategies, including the provision of substitute drugs, can be developed between prison and the wider community. 30 references and appended explanatory notes on drug injectors' vocabulary