Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 427: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of drug treatment programmes in each prison here; the number of places available in each prison for each year for the past five years; the timeframe of each programme; the funding provided to each programme annually for the past five years and for 2009; and the number of staff working on each programme in each prison for each year for the past five years and for 2009. [15490/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the gathering of all the detailed information requested would require a disproportionate and inordinate amount of staff time and effort and could not be justified in current circumstances where there are other significant demands on resources.

The Irish Prison Service continues to work to implement its Drugs Policy & Strategy, entitled Keeping Drugs Out of Prison, which was launched in May 2006. Working to fulfil the commitments contained in the Policy and Strategy involves the implementation of stringent measures to prevent drugs from getting into prisons while, at the same time, continuing to invest in services within prisons to reduce the demand for illicit drugs in the prisoner population as well as meeting prisoners' treatment and rehabilitative needs.

At present, any person entering prison giving a history of opiate use and testing positive for opioids on committal are offered a medically assisted symptomatic detoxification if clinically indicated. Patients can, as part of the assessment process, discuss with healthcare staff other treatment options which may include stabilization on methadone maintenance for persons who wish to continue on maintenance while in prison and when they return to the community on release. Methadone maintenance is available in 8 of the 14 places of detention (accommodating over 80% of the prison population). The table below provides the number of prisoners who received opiate substitution treatment with methadone (detox, stabilisation or maintenance) since 2003.

Table 1. Methadone Treatment Per Prison

Drug users present with multiple and complex problems. The evidence would indicate that a multi-disciplinary approach is needed to effectively care for this group and that maintenance of a personalised therapeutic relationship yields the best outcomes. With this in mind, specialist addiction nursing posts were developed in the Irish Prison Service with a view to streamlining care and throughcare back into the community.

The Medical Unit in Mountjoy Prison has 9 spaces specifically allocated for a therapeutic drug free programme. This intensive programme is 6 weeks in duration and includes involvement from both prison based staff and external community agencies. Its aim is to assist prisoners in achieving a drug free status.

There is no specific limit on the number of detox treatments available in each prison, the number of detoxifications carried out will be determined by the clinical needs of the prisoners presenting. The duration of the detoxification process varies from institution to institution but is typically of 16 or 21 days duration. For example in 2008, there were 727 treatment episodes of detoxification using methadone.

Prisoners have access to a range of medical and rehabilitative services such as psychosocial services and work and training options which assist in addressing their substance misuse issues. Because of this multifaceted approach, it is not possible to give comprehensive detail on the total number of prisoners engaged in the various treatment modalities. However there were 2487 treatment episodes using methadone substitution in 2008.

Staffing costs represent the bulk of drug treatment funding and it is not possible to apportion the actual time spent by healthcare and prison officer staff on the treatment related duties which form part of the overall role they perform. However, expenditure on drug treatment, excluding indirect staff and ancillary costs was approximately €2.5 million in 2008.