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Prisons: Alcohol

Volume 458: debated on Wednesday 28 March 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made on the implementation of the Prison Service policy on alcohol misuse and hazardous drinking. (129972)

The alcohol strategy for prisoners was introduced in 2004. The focus is on improving consistency and building on good practice for the delivery of treatment within existing resources. As resources allow, prisons will look to expand services.

A range of interventions is available in prisons to support those with an alcohol problem:

clinical management—including detoxification—is available in all local and remand prisons;

where alcohol is part of a wider substance misuse problem, the full range of drug interventions is available;

Alcoholics Anonymous run groups in around 50 per cent. of prisons;

an information pack and awareness video is available for all prisoners;

some offending behaviour programmes address offenders' underlying criminogenic factors which occur in alcohol related crime; and

the substance misuse service for all 16-18 year-old prisoners includes a particular focus on alcohol.