PRISON BASED DRUG TREATMENT IN DENMARK

Transcription

1 PRISON BASED DRUG TREATMENT IN DENMARK

2 AIM 1. The working of prison drug treatment (PDT) highly depends on from which perspective you see it: Political discourse Everyday institutional level (drug counsellors) Prisoners. Compare prison drug treatment to community drug treatment 3. Discussing some of the pitfalls of prison drug treatment. e.g. are prisons the right places to carry out drug treatment

3 CONTEXT Five high security (closed) prisons, eight low security (open) prisons, and 36 remand prisons. Total prison population approx prisoners. 75 prisoners/ Scandinavian exceptionalism : low prison population; material conditions of prisoners is relatively high, as are standards of inmates health and their individual security; ideology of normalisation Rapid growth in prison drug treatment over the last 15 years Approx. 60% used drugs prior to incarceration; 10-15% use drugs inside the walls

4 DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAMS Import model Motivational programs (remand prisons) Treatment wings (enclosed intensive programs: Minnesota/1 step and cognitive) Day-treatment programs (for cannabis, cocaine or heroin users respectively, low-intensive 1- hours counselling a week) After-treatment wings Drug free wings ( contract wings )

5 DRUG TREATMENT Treatment programs (inclusive alcohol treatment): approx. 15 % of all places in prisons Drug treatment guarantee (psycho-social drug treatment)

6 CONTROL AND SANCTIONS Control Random mandatory urine test (% of inmates daily) and tests on suspicion and upon return from weekend-leaves Cell searches, strip searches Increased fencing, increased use of sniffer dogs, cashless prisons Sanctions Fines (10-15 Euros) Confinement cell (3-4 days) Depriving of leave and parole (parole, normally after /3 of the sentence)

7 1. POLITICAL DISCOURSE 1. PDT (prison drug treatment) part of the strategy of Zero tolerance. PDT reduces crime 3. Pisoners right to welfare state services include PDT 4. New public management: PDT is a sign of a well-led and well-managed public institution PDT has been articulated in political discourse as an all-purpose fit

8 INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL Implementation of policy in practice (street level bureaucrats) Personal discretion is influenced by the structural framework of the prisons and by the inmate culture. Structural framework: high level of control, frequent relocation of prisoners, and restricted facilities Inmate culture and pains of imprisonment : PDT has low status; group therapy is experienced as risky; motivation for starting in PDT relates to the hard times prisoners experience in prison

9 INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL 1. Prison based drug treatment is in practice mainly about alleviating the negative consequences of imprisonment. Counsellors integrate the drug control and the disciplinary sanctions in their drug treatment ideology and practices

10 PRISONERS EXPERIENCES: PRISONS AS UNSTABLE WORLDS 1. Move on in life. Great deal of pragmatism (treatment wings are safer; looks good in the papers) 3. Fear of disciplinary sanctions makes some prisoners start in treatment 4. Loss of the comfort and relaxation that drugs provide when in prison 5. Rapport is difficult to create in a prisons setting (both towards counsellors and other prisoners) They are very nice people, but I am still sceptical. I do not trust anyone. I m afraid of being stabbed in the back. That s why I don t talk to anyone about my problems. There are only few I consider steady enough to share certain things with.

11 CONCLUSION Comparing PDT to community drug treatment: Political discourse: more control/sanctioning/compulsion Institutional level: the aims of PDT change to fit the prison context: alleviating the pains of imprisonment; control integrated into the treatment ideology and practice; lack of services. Prisoners: Motivations for starting in treatment dictated by the tough and unstable prison life (control/sanctions/tough inmate culture)

12 DISCUSSION In Denmark we have come to operate two rather different kinds of welfare services towards people who use drugs: a) prison drug treatment; b) community drug treatment Criminalization of social policy

13 AARHUS UNIVERSITY