Prison drug test plan ‘a publicity stunt’

JUSTICE Minister Micheal McDowell’s plan to encourage prisoners to undergo voluntary drug tests is a publicity stunt which won’t address drug use in prisons, penal reform experts said yesterday.

Under the Government plan, inmates will be offered incentives, such as better food and additional visits and phone calls, to encourage them to take part in the monthly drug-testing scheme.

The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) executive director Rick Lines said: “Minister Michael McDowell’s drug strategy seems almost wilfully ignorant of everything we’ve learned about effective and evidence-based responses to drugs in prison over the past 10 years.”