Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to eradicate new psychoactive substances across the prison estate; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Selous

We take a zero tolerance approach to drugs in prison and there are already a range of robust measures in place to detect drugs, including the use of search dogs and intelligence-led searches. More than 300 dogs have received specialist training to detect NPS. We recently introduced tough new laws which will see those who smuggle packages over prison walls, including new psychoactive substances, face up to two years in prison. Those who involve themselves in the distribution of drugs in our prisons should know that they will face prosecution and extra time behind bars.

We have begun a pilot to test for the use of psychoactive substances, and in April 2016, we plan to introduce widespread mandatory drug testing of prisoners for psychoactive substances. Those who are found to have used psychoactive substances will face sanctions under prison rules, including by having days added to their time in custody.