Prisons: Drugs
(asked on 17th June 2019) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2019 to Question 260706 on Prisons: Drugs, how many members of prison staff have been tested in the post-exposure testing programme in each of the last 24 months.
Her Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service has been investigating and evaluating the risks of second-hand exposure to psychoactive substances to prison staff. A pilot programme was run at Holme House prison in 2018 which involved anonymous pre and post-shift sampling of 15 volunteers. 122 samples were tested, and no metabolites of synthetic cannabinoids were detected. On the advice of toxicologists from Public Health England, HMPPS subsequently embarked on a programme of post-incident testing in 10 prisons on the 1 March 2019. All samples require the consent of the member of staff. As of 7 June 2019, 28 members of staff have been offered testing post-incident, with 17 staff consenting and providing a sample. |
We are in the process of selecting 10 additional establishments to expand and accelerate the programme. The 10 prisons already included in the programme are HMPs Hewell, Ranby, Dartmoor, Holme House, Channing’s Wood, Low Newton, Durham, The Mount, Wymott and Portland.