Ms Caron McCaffrey:

We have problems with drugs in prison because we have problems with drugs in our communities. Our prisons are very much a reflection of what happens within our communities. Clearly, addiction is a societal problem and it is a major contributory factor in respect of criminality. A significant proportion of people who are committed to custody have addiction problems. Mr. O'Driscoll made reference to a figure earlier. It is quite old research but it suggests that between 70% and almost 80% of prisoners have a problem with addiction.