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Written question asked by Mark Oaten (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 12 February 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 23 February 2009. It was answered by Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour) on Monday, 23 February 2009 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Winchester Prison: Drugs

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners at HM Prison Winchester were serving sentences for drug-related offences in each of the last five years; and how many incidents of drug use in the prison were recorded in each of those years.
Answer

The following table gives the numbers of sentenced drugs offenders in Winchester as at 30 June each year since 2004:

Number of prisoners serving sentences for drugs offences at Winchester prison 2004-08
Number as at 30 June
2008 31
2007 44
2006 84
2005 49
2004 44

The increase in 2006 was as a result of a local police operation.These numbers relate to specific drugs offences only (including the possession and supply of drugs) and not to other offences (such as those involving acquisitive crime) which may be related to drugs issues of the offender.Drug misuse in prisons is measured by mandatory drug testing. The table details the number of positive random and targeted mandatory drug tests occurring at HMP Winchester in each of the last five complete financial years.

Mandatory drug tests at HMP Winchester
Financial year Number of positive tests
2003-04 129
2004-05 132
2005-06 74
2006-07 55
2007-08 65

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
488 c358-9W; 258031
Session
2008-09
Subjects
Drugs HMP Winchester
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk