Fears over drug use by female inmates

THREE out of four female prisoners are on prescribed medication, which is more than double the number of male prisoners, new research shows.

“Women in Irish prisons have a high level of psychological morbidity and poor quality of life and this mental health profile is significantly poorer than their male prisoner counterparts and than women in the general population,” the report says.

Researchers from the Department of Health Promotion in the National University of Ireland, Galway, surveyed 59 female prisoners, three-quarters of the total female prison population at the time.

They found that 83% of female inmates had taken illegal drugs, compared to 72% of their male counterparts; 68% of female prisoners had smoked heroin, compared to 38% of male prisoners.

In addition, 58% reported injected drugs in the past year, compared to 25% of their male counterparts.

Ecstasy was taken by 52%, amphetamines by 58%, cocaine by 51% and LSD by 30%. All female prisoners were cigarette smokers.

The study also found that more female prisoners than male prisoners had experienced abuse due to someone else’s drinking.

These included verbal abuse (13% male, 33% female), physical assault (17% male, 28% female), and sexual assault (3% male, 16% female).

Report co-author Maureen Mooney said: “Adverse social circumstances, unhealthy lifestyles and negative life experiences undoubtedly contribute to the high levels of distress and poor quality of life in Irish women prisoners and may predate their drug abuse and criminal offences.

“If women are to be incarcerated, a period of imprisonment should be seen as an opportunity to start the process of redressing disadvantage, attempting through an integrated health promoting prison strategy, their social and economic reintegration,” Ms Mooney said.