Mr. Michael Donnellan:

The Prison Service actually provides, in my view, a very important role in helping people detox and come off drugs. It is an opportunity, when prisoners do come into prison, for them to straighten themselves out, to detox with medical help and then to prepare for their release.

Mental health issues are a massive problem. People say that our prisons are our new asylums because we get so many people who have acute mental health problems. We have, at any one time, up to 30 people in prison who are psychotic or are waiting for a place in an acute mental facility. Mental health is a huge issue in prisons.