Disciplinary and Therapeutic Strategies of Prison in Dealing with Drugs - Essay Example

The Balance between Disciplinary and Therapeutic Strategies of Prison in Dealing with Drugs Prisons are the institutions where people with deviant characters are placed in order to give them a chance to rectify their behaviour and also protect the society against any harm from criminals. Prisons have been used to keep away criminals from the society and execute those who are perceived as being social misfit in the community (Duke, 2003, p. 9). There is a perception that crime and drugs are interrelated and most of the criminals in jail are convicts of drug and drug related crimes. Many prisoners have continued to take drugs even in prison hence this has necessitated the need for rehabilitation of drug users in prison and after they leave prison. There is a therapeutic relationship between the corrective measures and drug rehabilitation services in the prison system due to the interrelationship between drugs and crime (Bean, 2013, p. 81). Therefore, prison system has a role to punish the offenders and rehabilitate drug addicts through treatment. The paper will discuss how the prisons achieve a balance between punishing the crime of drug use and treatment of drug use convicts. The specific issues discussed in the paper include drug market in prison, the relationship between drug and crime, the role of the prison system in establishing discipline to the offenders and the prisons’ therapeutic approach. Most crime related activities have been associated with drug and drug-abuse over time. It is against the law for any person to deal with prohibited drugs in the United Kingdom (Duke, 2003, p. 14). The use of illicit drugs has been associated with criminal activities such as murder and robbery with violence. Criminal activities involving drugs in UK includes the use of drugs, committing any offense under the influence of drugs, any violation of drugs law and trading with or manufacturing of illicit drugs (Bean, 2013, p. 85). Prison system is used for punishing the offenders of various crimes McSweeney, et.al, 2008, p. 37). However, most prisoners have been associated with drug use hence the need for prison system to rehabilitate the drug addicts in prison. Some prisoners were convicted as drug users while others have engaged in drug use while in prison. The demand for drugs in prison is very high and due to high value which is about four times higher than the street price suppliers use different means to satisfy that demand. Prisoners use their savings or money given from outside friends and relatives to pay for their drugs (Patel, 2010). They use modern technology especially the smart phones to order and pay for their drugs. The supplies are delivered by visitors, prison officer, ex-convicts and passerby through the wars of the exercise yards. Increase in drug availability in prison has limited the effort of the prison system to fight drug menace in prisons and has increased the use of drugs among the prisoners. Some studies have shown that in England about eighty five percent of the prisoners have access to illicit drugs (Patel, 2010). Heroin, cocaine, marijuana and hydrocodone are the most common drugs smuggled into prison by the inmates, visitors and corrupt wardens. Many inmates have continued to die in prison due to drug overdose with majority taking heroine because it is readily available to the prisoners (Bean, 2013, 94). Prison system is not able to get rid of drug use in prison because of the corrupt officers who either allow people to smuggle drugs into prison or they supply the prisoner with drugs for monetary compensation. The mandatory Drug Testing in England (MDT) is conducted to establish the rate of drug use in prison. The result of these tests is used to device measures to be taken in curbing the use of drugs in prison. However, the MDT results contradicts the reality of drug use because it shows that only 7.8 percent of the inmates use drugs while there is a suggestion that about over thirty five percent of prisoners use illegal drugs in prison (Patel, 2010). These contradictory results have hindered the measures necessary to control the drug use in prison. The UK government claimed that between 2006 and 2007 they were able to reduce the drug use to 8.8 percent from twenty four percent in 1996 (Patel, 2010). The main challenge facing the prison system in its endeavor to fight drug use in prison is lack of knowledge on what percent of prisoners use drugs, the type of drug they use, how that drug gets into the prison and the effects of different drugs to the users. The government has focused on controlling the drug use in prison instead of taking measures to eradicate the drug use in prison completely. The prison system is bent on giving the prisoners substitute drugs instead of eliminating the use of drugs (Duke, 2011, p.32). Furthermore, the government effort is channeled towards restricting the use of drugs in prison rather than eradicating the availability of drugs in the market. These approaches have continued to hamper the prison system’s effort to eliminate the use of drugs in prison hence resulting to increasing cases of drug use in prison. The drug market in prison is very violent and sometimes results to injuries of the prisoners and prison officers. Some prisoners start taking drugs while in prison because those drugs are readily available in prison (Bean, 2013, p. 98). Unfortunately the policies are not enough to eliminate the use of drugs in prison the rehabilitation procedure being applied is recommendation of substitute drugs for the addicts in order to get rid of addiction. There are two prison systems in UK that were established to track drug related crimes and crimes of drug use. The first system is called the Treatment Studies Scheme used to investigate the criminal conducts of drug users undergoing treatment for drug related complications. According to Duke (2000, p. 401), most of the prisoners are drug users or were convicted for drug related crimes. The second system is Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) plan that asses criminals who were arrested for dealing with drugs. Various studies have stated that the ADAM system has established a positive correlation between drug use and illegal activities (Feeley & Simon, 1992, p. 452). The “punitive drug control policy framework” is the main state policy used to control the production and marketing of illicit drugs in the society (Patel, 2010). Despite the effort of the UK government and in other countries to fight against the production and marketing of illicit drugs, the stringent policies on drug production and sale within UK have been thwarted by globalization thus making it hard to regulate the use of illegal drugs coming from other countries (Hucklesby & Wincup, 2010, p. 113). International policies on drug use allow the UK government to impose punitive measures on drug dealers within their country irrespective of their origin. The approach is intended to create fear of imprisonment to the drug users. The prison system has a goal of deterring the intending criminals from engaging in criminal acts by punishing the offenders (United Kingdom Drug Policy Commission, 2008). Prison deprives criminals of their freedom by separating the offenders from their families and friends and denying them an opportunity to engage in an illegal act. The aim of imprisoning the offenders is to make correct their behaviour and take them far from the drugs. Many governments have enacted drug control policies that deeply reliant on incarceration in order to reduce the availability of illicit drugs and the rate of drug use in the public. The efficiency of these policies is subject to rehabilitation, incapacitation and retribution they give the drug offenders (Feeley & Simon, 1992, p. 456). Also, the policies promote treatment for the drug users in prison and after they have completed their prison term. Imprisonment of drug users prevents the offenders from engaging in other crimes and at the same it deters other people from committing crimes in the future (McSweeney, Turnbull & Hough, 2008, p. 39). Besides punitive measures taken by the prison system to deter offenders from dealing with drugs and committing crimes associated with drugs, it also uses drug treatment and prevention measures to fight the abuse of drugs (Hucklesby & Wincup, 2010, p. 128). The court system is engaged in overseeing the treatment of the drug addicts at residential settings as a substitute sentence. The prison system administers punishment to the offenders depending on the magnitude of their crimes. The defiant characters of an individual are modified and reshaped by the prison system in order for the offender to become law abiding citizen. The prison department uses different measures to modify the characters of the offenders to the standards of the society. They mix punitive measures with therapeutic facilities to deal with drug users (McSweeney, Turnbull & Hough, 2008, p. 42). Although the role of the prison is to punish the offenders they also deal with the prison do use therapeutic instruments to deal with individuals after they have completed their prison sentence in order to help them reform and become useful members of the society (United Kingdom Drug Policy Commission, 2008). There is a perception that administering therapeutic measures to prisoners before they complete their prison term may have an adverse impact on the convicts and may achieve the intended goals. The reasoning behind the administration of therapeutic measures to the drug during the period when they are prison is that they are likely to mistake the treatment for prison punishment and they may fail to reform even after completing their sentence (Duke, 2011, p.46). Therefore, the prison department is administering the treatment against drugs after the convicts have completed a prison sentence so that they become responsive to the treatment even long after leaving prison. The United Kingdoms government established a street crime initiative plan that aimed at availing drugs all the time to the offenders arrested for street crime offences (McSweeney, Turnbull & Hough, 2008, p. 38). This initiative has helped the prison system to provide treatment to the drug offenders for their drug dependency in order to dissociate criminals from drug addiction as a way of deterring drug related crimes. Through this initiative, drug users receive treatment and at the same time it is a punitive measure for the drug offenders. Depending on the categories of drug offenders imprisonment is very necessary as a deterrent against the use of illicit drug use (Feeley & Simon, 1992, p. 452). For example, the distributors and retailers of illicit drugs face high risk of arrest and penalty, therefore, the fear of being imprisoned results to increase in the cost of drugs and create scarcity of those drugs in the society. Consequently, the risk of being imprisoned interrupts the market structures of illicit drugs and makes those drugs hard to access by the users. The imposition of sanctions against the drug producers is aimed to discourage the production of illicit drugs under rigid conditions (McSweeney, Turnbull & Hough, 2008, p. 53). However, since some producers continue to manufacture those drugs under those conditions, the threat of imprisonment is used as an alternative prohibitive measure against production and sale of illegal drugs. Reducing the availability of drugs to the users reduces the need for punishing offenders and treatment of the drug addicts. The government has enacted drug control policies to prohibit or reduce the rate of drug use and drug related crime in the society. The policies make the drugs too expensive and unavailable to the users (Duke, 2003, p. 64). The imprisonment of drug users and the drug market have a direct correlation of the reduction in demand for the demand of drugs the market. Also, the policies have increased the availability of treatment for the drug users, have made it easier to provide that treatment and have extended the treatment for the drug users beyond the prison term (Bean, 2013, p.93). The use of national drugs enforcement policies has a significant effect of the accessibility and use of drugs in UK as well as in other countries (Feeley & Simon, 1992, p. 458). National policies put a lot of legal weight on small retailers since the proportion of fine imposed on retailers to that of producers is very huge. The effects of these policies are aimed at distorting the drug market by increasing the price of the drugs since many people cannot take the risk of dealing with drugs when penalty is too heavy. The consequences of high drug prices in the domestic market are a significant reduction in consumption of drugs in the community (Duke, 2011, p.63). Therefore, national drugs enforcement policies are very instrumental in deterring the use of illegal drugs. The practice of rehabilitating drug convicts through a prison system has been criticised for abusing the rights of the convicts, despite the significant role it plays in the society (Hucklesby & Wincup, 2010, p. 118). The prisoners who are drug addicts are secluded from others and locked up rehabilitation facilities for a long period in the environments that is hazardous and poses a significant risk of contracting severe illnesses. The drug convicts are subjected to solitary environment that may cause physical and emotional damages. Sometimes the warders use abusive force to extract some evidence from the prisoners, therefore, abusing the rights of the offenders (Feeley & Simon, 1992, p. 453). However, the prison system has improved the procedure for rehabilitating the drug convicts by improving the prison environment and even allows some convicts to take complete their prison term by serving the community while they continue to undergo treatment. Some prisons have bad reputations for administering ruthless disciplinary measures and yet failing to solve the menace of drug abuse in the society. Some measures to control drugs abuse are considered to be violating human rights (Duke, 2011, p.75). Some policies on drug control require the convicts to be denied necessary medicines and services give the issues of combating drug related crimes a filthy look. The prison system deprives offenders’ of drug necessary services in order to instil discipline among them without consideration of the impact it may have on emotional and physical wellbeing of the convicts, as well as the image of the prison system (Patel, 2010). It is even likely to create a perception that the prison system does not have the capacity to offer a remedy to the offenders. However, the situation has changed and the prison system is making the treatment and other essential services available to the convicts. The imposition of the death penalty among the drug users is too harsh measure and inappropriate because it negates the essence of assisting drug users to reform their characters (Hucklesby & Wincup, 2010, p. 123). The law enforcing agencies try to achieve a balance between the corrective measures by reducing the punishment to deter crime and administering treatment to the drug users to rehabilitate the drug users. There are many incidences of crimes related to drug use in the society despite the effort of the prison system to incarcerate the offenders (Bean, 2013, p. 95). Some of the crimes are contributed by the effects of drug while others are due to the necessity to raise funds for acquiring drugs. Since there significant proportion of the convicts that represent the category of drug users, the prison system provides treatment to the drug convicts and takes the prisoners where they can get sufficient healthcare attention instead of treating them like ordinary criminals who are taken through disciplinary system. The prison system ensures the drug users have adequate medical services by adding more medical experts to the prison system to offer curative rather than disciplinary measures (EMCDDA, 2001). Furthermore, the prison system provides treatment to the convicts and initiate follow-up program to ensure therapeutic measures are continued even after the prison has completed the jail term. The corrective function of the prison system operates within the social norms by ensuring the corrective measures taken against the drug abusers are justified (Patel, 2010). Too harsh measures may harden the offenders while being too lenient on the offenders may not lead to the intended goals. There is a need to evaluate the effect of the punitive measures and a boundary within which the prison system should run. The prison system offers counselling services to the drug users to ensure a full change of drug use habit. The prison system is helping the convicts with a coping mechanism both in and outside prison (Duke, 2011, p.97). The principle for administering therapeutic to the drug convicts is that if people can adopt coping mechanism in prison it is easier to cope with outside prison conditions and be able to reform completely. Combining treatment with punitive measures ensures the convicts do not resume drug use after leaving prison because they are released after recovery and after some discipline has been instilled in them. The coping mechanism of the ex-convicts involves recognition of the prevailing situation, resolving the issues peacefully and developing strategies to associate with other members of the society and identify with their problems (Duke, 2003, p. 86). The phases of drug use and illicit activities are responsible for the escalating cases of drug convicts across the globe. The prison has increased therapeutic facilities within the prison system to ease the process of administering treatment to the convicts (Boys, et. al, 2002, p. 156). Providing treatment to the offenders of drug addiction as convicts and after prison is likely to impact the future use of drugs, psychological behaviour of the offender and criminal behaviour of that person (EMCDDA, 2001). In order to curb this menace the prison system has integrated treatment in criminal justice system. The treatment process has been based at prison system and the community level in order to ensure efficiency of the administration process and complete behavioural change by the victims. In most cases, the offenders with drug related criminal behaviour are put under the community surveillance and where they seem to exhibit severe problems the treatment is recommended for the test. According to United Kingdom Drug Policy Commission (2008), there is no difference between the offenders who undergo the treatment process willingly and those who are compelled by criminal justice system since in both cases the similar result can be attained. The prison system uses various approaches for recommending treatment to drug offenders (Boys, et. al, 2002, p. 154). For example, recommending direct treatment for non-violent users, administering treatment as a form of punishment, trial or pre-trial release, or through establishment of special legal system such as drug courts to deal with drug criminals. The drug courts carry out several duties including administering therapeutic, monitoring the development of the convicts, and arranging for other services necessary for the therapeutic process. Significant results have been attained when criminal legal and therapeutic systems and services are integrated (Feeley & Simon, 1992, p. 455). These processes ensure the offenders undergo treatment during and after probation period to determine how the offender responds to the treatment. The use f prison-based treatment community has been made effective through use of implementation groups recommended by the human right activists since their missions seem to coincide. The rehabilitation team engages all their facilities towards life saving mission (Duke, 2003, p. 102). That has been based on the premise that the nature of the offense is both criminal and physiological in nature. The efficiency of this approach is further enhanced by lack of recidivism of the supportive team of medical and correctional staff. Treatment process involves conducting physiological tests on the offenders as a means of monitoring their progress (Bean, 2013, p. 98). However, the provision of treatment to the convicts involves other services that contradict with the punitive operation of the criminal legal system. Therefore, prison-based treatment method offers full curative measures in a highly disciplined environment that is separate from ordinary prison environment (Duke, 2011, p.123). The core principle of integrating corrective system with treatment system is to change the behaviour pattern, assessment and sensations to manipulate the offenders towards misuse of drugs. Although most governments have attempted to integrate therapeutic in the prison system, the intended effects have not yet been achieved because the cases of drug offenders is continuing to rise in prison (United Kingdom Drug Policy Commission, 2008). The state should come up with policies aimed at increasing the efficiency of therapeutic and service system in the prison system in order to achieve the intended results. These policies should also define the roles of each system and offer room for accommodation of those services in the social system in order to avoid a clash with other social and humanitarian groups. The success of deterrence measure of the imprisonment of the offenders is dependent on harshness, immediacy and firmness of the legal disciplinary measures. In the instances where offenders consider the legal disciplinary measures taken against them as being lenient the offenders may not be deterred from engaging in offensive acts in the future (Duke, 2003, p. 37). Therefore, the state and the policy makers try to impose disciplinary measures that are harsh enough to cause terror to the offenders so that they do not wish to face similar conditions in the future. In conclusion, most of the convicts in the UK prisons are offenders of drug regulations or convicts of drug related offenses. The establishment of the prison system was meant to give corrective and treatment services to the offenders by ensuring a holistic approach involving healthcare system, corrective system and the community. Imprisonment helps by separating offenders from the law abiding people in the society in order to reduce their adversaries in the society and deny them an opportunity to assess drugs. Also, imprisonment serves as a deterrent to other members of the community who may be intending to join criminals in the future. The overall effect is achieved where the need for drugs declines due to a reduction of buyers who are taken to prison. In addition, the legal system imposes heavy fines on drug dealers thus resulting to increase in the market price of the drugs and the consequent decline in demand for the drugs. On the other hand, therapeutic is necessary to compliment the corrective function of the prison department. The treatment of the offenders is offered in a specialized environment away from the ordinary convicts in order to influence the psychology and feeling of the offender towards drugs and ensure they reform after leaving prison. The efficiency of the therapeutic system can be achieved if the community is involved in monitoring the development of the offender and recommending the action to be taken. The treatment of drug convicts should be implemented during and after the prison term as a way of ensuring the criminal conforms to the social standards.   Bibliography Bean, P. (2013). Drugs and Crime. Cullompton: Willan Publishing (Chapter 4 Coercive Treatment and Mandatory Drug Testing). Pp. 80-106. Boys, A. et al. (2002). The Drug Use and Initiation in Prison: Results from the National Prison Survey in England and Wales. Addiction, 97: Pp.1551-1560. Duke, K. (2003). Drugs, Prisons and Policy-making. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Pp. 1-206. Duke, K. (2011). Reconceptualising Harm Reduction in Prisons in Fraser, S. and Moore, D. (eds). The Drug Effect: Health, Crime and Society. Cambridge University Press. Pp. 1-215 EMCDDA. (2001). Assistance to Drug Users in European Union Prisons. EMCDDA. 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