One in three of all prison spaces will be designated drug-free by summer 2004, the director general of the Irish Prisons Service has said.
Mr Sean Aylward said drug-free regimes operated only in some prisons but would be introduced across the prison system over three years.
He was speaking following the publication yesterday of a survey of prisoners in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin which found that more than two-thirds of those with a history of drug abuse before imprisonment continued to use drugs after they were jailed.
The report, published by the Health Research Board, also found that few inmates began their drug habit in prison. It said its findings suggested "a pervasive drugs culture" within Mountjoy Prison.
Twenty-nine prisoners, less than one per cent of the prison population, took part in the survey, conducted in 1999. Twenty-four had a history of drug use before imprisonment, with 17 continuing to use illicit drugs in prison. Of these 17, six reported cannabis use while 11 said they were on heroin; all greatly reduced the quantities of drugs they took while in prison.
The report's author, Ms Lucy Dillon, said where heroin was used, prisoners reported high levels of risk behaviour in relation to the spread of infectious diseases such as hepatitis and HIV. "The level of risks taken when injecting drugs in prison raises issues of particular concern for public health," she said.
Prisoners injecting generally shared equipment and did not have access to needle exchange services, the report said. It also found there was no structured access to either cleaning fluids or clean injecting equipment.
Prisoners said that to stop their drug use while in prison they would need to be removed to a drug-free area such as the training unit at Mountjoy Prison, which holds 90 inmates.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, launching the report yesterday, announced he had directed the Irish Prison Service to accelerate the development of drug-free regimes throughout the prison system. He said he had given the service a realistic three-year time-frame to complete the drug-free programme. He said there had been many developments since the research was conducted, with 265 prisoners currently taking the heroin-substitute, methadone. This represented an increase of more than 44 per cent since December 2000.
Mr Aylward said the three-year time-frame was a "stretching target" for the service. "The Minister's direction tells us that we have to have one in three drug-free prison spaces by 2004. We must and will get to that stage in the time given."
There are 3,200 prisoners in the State. A study by Trinity College Dublin, published last July, showed that 29 per cent of new committal prisoners reported they had injected drugs. This compared to the 46 per cent and 45 per cent in earlier surveys.
The full text of the Health Research Board's report is available on The Irish Times website at www.ireland.com/special