Official Report 822KB pdf
::The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-20875, in the name of Audrey Nicoll, on behalf of the Criminal Justice Committee, on its substance misuse in prisons inquiry. I invite members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request-to-speak buttons. I call Audrey Nicoll on behalf of the Criminal Justice Committee.
15:47
::I am very proud to open the debate on the Criminal Justice Committee’s report into the harm caused by substance misuse in Scotland’s prisons. I thank our excellent clerking team, particularly Lucy Miller, and Scottish Parliament information centre and participation and communities team colleagues for their support during the inquiry.
The inquiry began with accumulation: rising drug-related deaths in custody, escalating use of synthetic substances, repeated warnings from oversight bodies and persistent concern from families and staff that the system is not reducing harm in the way that it should. Over months of evidence taking, prison visits and private engagement sessions, we examined what drives substance use in custody, how effectively it is prevented and treated, and what must change.
The first and most consistent message that we heard was that substance misuse in prisons cannot be understood in isolation from the wider public health challenges in Scotland. The report sets out clearly that people who enter custody are disproportionately affected by poverty, trauma, adverse childhood experiences, unstable housing and poor physical and mental health. Prison does not create those inequalities, but the evidence suggests that it can intensify them.
We heard about the changing nature of drug supply: synthetic cannabinoids, which now dominate seized samples, increasingly potent substances arriving via drones and contaminated items, and the constant adaptation of organised crime networks. We heard that drug-trend testing shows high levels of drug positivity on admission, meaning that many people who arrive in custody are already living with addiction.
Witnesses repeatedly told us that boredom, long hours locked in cells, inconsistent access to purposeful activity and gaps in mental health provision all drive substance use in prison. Where distress is unaddressed, substances can fill the void.
We were struck, in particular, by the evidence around dual diagnoses. Mental ill health and substance dependency are frequently intertwined, yet services are not always integrated in practice.
We also heard directly from people who have experienced addiction in custody. They spoke about withdrawal following arrival, self-medicating anxiety and the difference that it makes when a member of staff treats them as a person rather than a problem. Those contributions were among the most powerful evidence that we received. They shaped our recommendations on trauma-informed care, recovery-focused regimes and continuity of supply on release. I put on record my personal thanks to all those who spoke to us.
Evidence shows that 63 per cent of people in prison have an alcohol use disorder and that 40 per cent report being drunk at the time of their offence. However, specialist alcohol referrals remain strikingly low in comparison to need. Alcohol may be less visible in custody than synthetic drugs, but its role in offending, harm and post-release mortality is significant.
We recognise the exceptional strain on the prison estate. Overcrowding, high turnover and workforce pressures were repeatedly cited as barriers to effective prevention and early intervention. Without protected time for purposeful activity, therapeutic work and consistent staff engagement, progress will always be fragile.
I welcome the Scottish Government and the Scottish Prison Service’s joint initial assessment of our recommendations and the commitment of the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs to continued engagement on the issue. The response highlights important work that is under way, such as the target operating model for prison healthcare, the alignment of the SPS alcohol and drug recovery strategy with the mental health strategy, the implementation of medication assisted treatment standards, recovery cafes, the operational regime and roster review, and action to manage population pressures—all of which is extremely important work.
Those are significant steps, but our inquiry requires us to ask whether the frameworks that exist are delivering consistently across the estate. For example, the Government’s response emphasises that prison healthcare “must be equivalent to” community standards, yet witnesses described variability between health boards in staffing levels, access to therapies and clinical capacity.
On early intervention, the Government notes alignment between strategies. However, our report recommends a custody-focused prevention and early intervention framework that explicitly integrates mental health and substance use services from admission right through to release. Integration is essential.
On accountability, the Government indicates that existing reporting structures will provide updates. The committee’s position is that the Parliament must be able to track measurable outcomes, reductions in drug-related deaths, improved access to treatment and increased engagement in recovery work.
One of the strongest areas of consensus during the inquiry was that substance misuse in prisons is fundamentally a public health issue with criminal justice consequences. If we treat it as a security problem, we will chase supply endlessly. If we treat it as an individual failing, we will ignore structural drivers. However, if we treat it as a health issue that is embedded in a justice context, we have a chance to reduce harm meaningfully.
The committee’s report contains 50 practical, evidence based and cross-party recommendations across six themes. They acknowledge the dedication of staff and recognise financial and operational constraints while being clear that incremental change will not be enough.
Today’s debate is not just about highlighting gaps and shortcomings but about ensuring that custody does not deepen addiction and that release does not mark the beginning of a renewed crisis. The measure of our justice system is not only how securely it confines people but whether it reduces harm, improves health and strengthens community safety in the long term. That is the standard that the committee’s report sets, and I commend it to the Parliament.
I move,
That the Parliament notes the findings and recommendations in the Criminal Justice Committee’s 1st Report, 2026 (Session 6), Inquiry into the harm caused by substance misuse in Scottish Prisons (SP Paper 956).
15:54
::I give my thanks to Audrey Nicoll in her capacity as convener of the Criminal Justice Committee. I will start by echoing the committee’s conclusion that a public health approach is desirable. We see it as a public health approach but with justice consequences. It is absolutely imperative that we interrupt the supply of drugs, but we also need to continue our work to reduce the demand for drugs through prevention, treatment, recovery and tackling stigma. That applies in the community, and it should also apply in our prison establishments.
I very much welcome the Criminal Justice Committee’s inquiry into the harm that is caused by substance misuse in our prisons, its report and the opportunity to debate the key issues and reflect on the impact that they have on those living and working in prisons. Ms Todd and I were very pleased to be able to attend the committee last year to support the inquiry in its evidence gathering and consideration.
I thank all who participated in the inquiry, and I note the committee’s appreciation of the informal, private engagement of people with lived and living experience of substance misuse in prison and of family members affected by imprisonment. Such insights are hugely valuable and help to shape meaningful improvements. I also acknowledge and show my appreciation for the briefings that were provided by the Prison Officers Association Scotland and Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems. I say to both of those organisations that the issues that they raised will continue to be a feature in my endeavours and in the discussions that I have with the Scottish Prison Service leadership.
As Ms Nicoll said, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Prison Service have provided a joint initial response to the committee’s recommendations. I hope that it is helpful to members. I recognise the importance of the areas that have been identified by the committee, including ensuring that prevention and early intervention are as fully integrated as possible into approaches in custody and that the support that people receive is equitable with the support that is received in the community.
As the Parliament is aware, and as the committee has recognised, we have a high and increasingly complex prison population. Preventing supply, keeping people safe and managing the impact of substance use in prisons places a significant demand on the Prison Service, our national health service colleagues and other partners. I am grateful for the hard work and dedication of all those staff in all those organisations to keep people in our care and their colleagues safe.
In 2026-27, we are investing just over £1 billion in our prisons to support front-line staff and progress improvements in the prison estate. That includes an uplift of nearly £21 million in the resource budget of the Scottish Prison Service, bringing the total resource budget to more than £509 million. That will help to meet costs that are linked to the change in prison population and enable the Prison Service to continue to deliver a safe and secure system.
The SPS is working to make the best use of capacity. Reducing the risks that lead people to develop new drug dependencies in prison is a priority. The introduction of the regime and roster operational review will protect purposeful activity and time out of cell by ensuring that staff are available at peak times.
I have kept the Parliament updated on critical issues in relation to the prison population and the actions that have been taken and pursued that have been or are essential to ensure the safe running of the estate for those in custody and our hard-working staff. I have set out to the Parliament the Government’s initial response to the sentencing and penal policy commission’s report, which was published earlier this month. The commission has provided an opportunity for the Parliament to make bold, evidence-based changes across the justice system, with a renewed focus on prevention and reducing reoffending, leading to better outcomes for individuals, communities and our justice system as a whole.
People in prison often face significant disadvantage, including complex health needs, and we are committed, with the NHS, the SPS and others, to ensuring that prison healthcare is at least equivalent to the healthcare that is available in the community, as I have said. The committee rightly highlights the importance of mental health services, alcohol services and healthcare more generally, and we support that position.
The importance of rehabilitation and supported transitions from custody is also highlighted, which is why we are investing £5.3 million each year in Upside, which is a voluntary throughcare service to support short-term offenders or those on remand who leave prison. We greatly value the role of third sector providers in prison and in the community.
There is an increasing shared understanding of the harmful and evolving nature of illegal drug supply in prisons, including concerns about the rise in use and strength of synthetic drugs, their impact on people in custody and on staff, and the importance of access to effective rehabilitation and support. I have discussed those issues with the chief executive of the Prison Service, which is managing that highly complex environment.
I welcome the committee’s report, which will help to inform further action to support people in SPS’s care, keep staff safe and improve those crucial transitions. All that will sit within the Prison Service’s 10-year alcohol and drug recovery strategy, which was published in 2024 and which provides a framework for improving outcomes.
I am encouraged by the level of cross-party support on the issues. The work to reduce harm from substance use in prisons and in the community will need on-going cross-party support and a continued focus in the new session of Parliament.
16:00
::Scotland’s prison estate does not need to seek its troubles. Inmate numbers are at record levels, staff are reporting unprecedented challenges and prisoners are leaving without rehabilitation, going out into a world for which they are completely unprepared. What is worse, the estate itself is in deep trouble: promised new jails for Glasgow and the Highlands are years late and ludicrously over budget.
This debate focuses on yet another challenge, which is one that Scottish Government has failed miserably to address: the issue of substance misuse, which creates chaos inside prisons and places unbearable stress and pressure on hard-working prison officers.
The crisis damages the prospects of inmates, too. For many, incarceration is supposed to serve as a punishment for what they have done and to act as a deterrent from repeating that behaviour. It is also supposed to provide rehabilitation: they should have new skills, a new attitude and perhaps even an enthusiasm for a future in which they will be a well-functioning, contributing member of society. Yet the drug-taking culture in prisons is stopping much of that from happening.
The public—rightly—expect jails to be secure facilities where the only things that get in and out are approved people and products. Perhaps small errors could be accepted, but the scale of drugs and alcohol inside is eye watering. Those criminals who successfully get the contraband in seem constantly to be a step ahead of the authorities. They use drones and drug-soaked mail—essentially, they use any trick that they can to do that.
Scotland’s drug deaths crisis is well documented, but the one place where people should be absolutely free of its clutches is in a secure state facility. Many inmates turn up to prison addicted to drugs or alcohol, and their addiction probably contributed to their crime. However, one of the most worrying statistics that I heard during the inquiry is that many prisoners report developing addiction for the first time while in jail. Some surveys indicate that, on leaving prison, between one quarter and one third of them have illegal substances in their body.
How have we got to this shocking situation? Scotland’s high prison population is one reason. Bursting at the seams, the inadequate estate is staffed by fatigued and stressed-out prison officers, which creates an environment that is more likely to descend into chaos. Those pressures leave staff with less time to work on intelligence and investigate where the drugs are getting in and who is taking them. Underinvestment in activities means that prisoners are bored and driven to revisiting previous substance abuse habits.
Much of the focus is on drugs, but we should not overlook the issue of alcohol. It is thought that around a third of prisoners are alcohol dependent. They are not only offered insufficient help in jail to beat that addiction; it is too easy for them to access illicit alcohol while they are serving their sentence.
Nobody is pretending that there are easy answers to that. As the Prison Officers Association states, the system is under “pressure like never before.” The blend of prisoners—foreigners, organised criminals and ageing offenders serving sentences for historical crime—creates a nightmare.
However, there is so much more that the Scottish National Party Government could have done. Numerous solutions from a wide variety of sources are being put forward. The Scottish Prison Service is clearly understaffed and underresourced. One of the main reasons that prisoners have appointments for substance misuse issues cancelled is a lack of staff cover. There is also an inconsistent approach to things such as peer groups, which have been shown to work in various other support services. Those things will never improve unless funding improves.
Staff representatives have also come forward with ideas such as anti-drone fences around jails, which would stop a major carrier of contraband. Perhaps the SNP Government could break the habit of a lifetime and start working with the United Kingdom Government to seek nationwide solutions to the problems. The Prison Officers Association has been clear that many of these things are not being pursued “because of funding constraints.”
The Scottish Government has not listened to the people who know best, and its attitude has been lax and complacent. That is why we are where we are today. The Government must urgently restore control in Scotland’s prisons or the whole of society will continue to pay a heavy price.
16:05
::The committee launched its inquiry because repeated investigations, powerful testimony from families and staff, and the findings of the people’s panel all showed that Scotland’s prisons are facing systematic failure in responding to substance misuse. Witnesses told the committee that,
“in their view, prisons have become de facto holding environments for people whose core needs in relation to substance addictions are more clinical than criminal.”
The committee concluded that, without an acknowledgment of
“the underlying health-system shortcomings, efforts to reduce drug-related harm in custody will continue to fall short.”
The nature of the problem is complex, but it begins with Scotland’s prisons being severely overcrowded and understaffed. Low staffing levels increase the risk of incidents and limit the time for meaningful engagement with prisoners. The unpredictable behaviour associated with synthetic drug intoxication also means that officers are often the first responders to emergencies.
I was struck by our sessions with prisoners, who spoke candidly about drug use in prisons and their other experiences. One ex-prisoner had been given a seven-year sentence but had served 19 years because he was unable to cope without using drugs. Others in the group said that the trauma that they felt after reflecting on their crimes led them to taking drugs when they were in prison although they previously had not. The lack of meaningful activity is definitely also a factor. As one prison officer put it,
“At Glenochil and other prisons there is little to stimulate or engage prisoners—no wonder they take drugs.”
Police Scotland also provided a major clue to the nature of the problem when it
“emphasised that many of the same networks control both community and prison drug markets, using prisons to maintain influence and collect debts”,
which is a point that the convener made in her opening speech.
The public often wonder how drugs still reach our prisons, and that is probably one of the reasons why the committee delved into that question a bit further. As we have heard today, the reality is that there are many ways to bring drugs into prisons, including the increasing use of drones and small, impregnated parcels being brought in through various means, including by visitors.
During our visit to HMP Edinburgh, we viewed the grids that had been installed to prevent drones passing through or near windows, but, as one prisoner pointed out, there are some very clever people in jail and it is only a matter of time before they find a way round that. There are serious concerns about the use of drones, up to and including concerns about their capability to carry weapons.
The Scottish Prison Service and other witnesses frequently told the committee that synthetic cannabinoids known as spice are the most serious and current threat to safety and wellbeing in the prison estate. A recent survey cited by the Prison Officers Association found that
“40–75% reported a drug problem or tested positive for illegal substances on entering prison.”
One officer noted that the physical risks to officers caused by drug taking, especially drugs such as spice. Drugs are affecting prisoners psychologically, causing them to attack officers.
Drugs are a real and live issue in Scottish prisons. It comes as no surprise that those who are on the front line of the current situation—prison officers—are reporting low morale. It is vital that we turn the situation around. One of the committee’s recommendations is that there should be
“a national standard for pre-release healthcare planning should be introduced”.
Successive committees have acknowledged that, unless a Government plans for support for prisoners who have drug addiction and other related health problems when they are released from prison, they will continue to reoffend. It is about time that there was a Government that was able to take that on. Is it any wonder that our reoffending rates are sky high? This has to be a priority for whoever forms the next Government.
I thank the clerks for their support for this important work, and I hope that the report will be useful for the next Parliament.
16:10
::I begin by thanking the Criminal Justice Committee for its work on this inquiry. The evidence that it heard and included in the report is sobering, urgent and, frankly, politically and morally challenging.
Let us begin with the reality: almost two thirds of people in our prisons have alcohol use disorder, and around 40 per cent were drunk at the time of their offence, yet referrals to specialist alcohol services remain vanishingly small compared with the scale of need. That is not simply a service gap—it is a political choice.
The committee’s report makes it clear that substance misuse in prison is not an isolated problem. It is the predictable outcome of trauma, poverty, inequality and a system that too often warehouses distress rather than responding to it. If we are serious about justice, we must be serious about public health. Prisons are being asked to manage what are fundamentally health crises.
Overcrowding, extended lock‑up, lack of purposeful activity and fractured mental health provision create conditions in which substances become coping mechanisms. When alcohol is less available, we see substitution with synthetic drugs, which are often more dangerous, unpredictable and harmful, and prison officers are left to pick up the pieces, whether or not they have had the appropriate training or have the correct personal protective equipment.
This is not about individual moral failure but about systemic neglect. The Scottish Greens support the committee’s recommendations on consistent assessment, closing the treatment gap, strengthening pre-release planning and improving continuity of care. We must, however, also be honest that implementing the recommendations remains at the current scale of imprisonment will only ever be a sticking plaster.
Scotland imprisons too many people. Many of them are there for short sentences that are linked to poverty, addiction or low-level offending. We know that short custodial sentences are ineffective, destabilising and criminogenic, yet we continue to rely on them. If 63 per cent of the prison population has alcohol use disorder, that is not a prison problem but a public health emergency that is playing out behind bars.
We should therefore be dramatically expanding community-based disposals with robust treatment requirements. We should be embedding trauma-informed care across the justice system. We should be piloting prison-based overdose prevention centres. We should ensure that medication assisted treatment is universally and proactively available, not just for opioids but for alcohol dependence.
We must guarantee that no one leaves custody without housing; healthcare registration; a prescription, if required; and a live appointment in the community. The weeks after release are the most dangerous and we cannot continue to discharge people into homelessness and expect recovery to follow.
We should go further. We must confront the uncomfortable truth that incarceration itself can deepen harm. When women who are leaving prison are nine times more likely to die from alcohol-related causes than the general population, that demands more than incremental reform—it demands transformation. Justice must mean healing, restoration and addressing the root causes of harm rather than simply punishing its symptoms.
The committee’s report gives us a road map, but the question for Parliament is whether we are brave enough to follow it, not just by tweaking services but by reimagining what justice looks like in Scotland. The Scottish Greens stand ready to support action that treats substance use as a health issue, reduces our reliance on imprisonment and centres dignity, compassion and evidence. If we truly believe that people can change, our system must also change.
16:14
::I welcome the Criminal Justice Committee’s report on substance use in Scotland’s prisons and thank the committee members for their care in ensuring that lived and living experience are at the heart of that report.
The evidence that the committee heard was consistent and compelling: substance use in custody is a public health issue with justice consequences. Drug and alcohol use in prison does not begin at the prison gates but reflects trauma, poverty, inequality and untreated mental distress that long predate imprisonment. If we fail to address those drivers, prisons will continue absorbing unmet health and social needs that they were never designed to manage.
The committee is clear that enforcement is necessary but not sufficient. Order and safety matter and we must commend the sustained professionalism of prison officers, healthcare staff and police officers who work in extremely challenging circumstances, facing the consequences of organised crime and drug-related emergencies every day, especially, as we have heard, in relation to the circulation of potent drugs such as spice and synthetic opioids.
However, punishment does not deliver recovery. Overcrowding is a fundamental barrier to progress and high population levels in prison restrict access to purposeful activity, reduce therapeutic space, compress staff time and disrupt the continuity of care. If we are serious about prevention and early intervention, we must recognise that sustainable reform depends on reducing the pressures created by an overcrowded prison estate and that community justice is not soft justice but smart justice.
The committee recommends a custody-focused prevention and early intervention framework that embeds trauma-informed care, properly links mental health and substance use services and supports recovery right through from admission to release. Crucially, the same standards must apply in custody as in the community, and treatment should neither stop when someone enters prison nor collapse when they leave. We have already heard that point highlighted.
Parity of mental health provision is essential. Addiction must never be a barrier to accessing mental health care and people in custody should have timely assessment, access to talking therapies, trauma-specific intervention, peer recovery groups and integrated treatment for co-occurring conditions.
The report also calls for strengthened, rights-based information and advocacy and for consistent family contact, including digital access and phone calls. That is really important and is not a soft thing either, because contact with family on the outside is vital to wellbeing. There is also a need for expanded anti-stigma training for staff and a guaranteed baseline of purposeful activity across the estate, and Parliament must be able to monitor progress through clear and regular reporting.
On the issues of supply and security, the committee accepts that total interdiction is unrealistic in an era of synthetic drugs. Technology absolutely has a role but must complement, not replace, relationship-based security and investment in staff. Organised crime groups exploit vulnerability within prisons and that must be tackled as part of wider national strategies. However, we cannot measure success by seizures alone. We must reduce harm and demand, including by continuing to ensure that testing of seized substances helps to reduce harm in an ever-evolving market.
Disciplinary responses must also be proportionate because there is a clear distinction between organised criminal supply and personal use that is rooted in dependency, with the latter requiring a health-led response and not simply further punishment.
As we have heard, alcohol abuse is a crisis that is all too often forgotten in our justice system. We heard from the convener and from Maggie Chapman that only around 1.1 per cent of those in the prison population have been referred to specialist alcohol services. That is a stark treatment gap. Although withdrawal management on admission is generally effective, support during the remainder of prison time is inconsistent, continuity of care on release is variable and the consequences are grave. The risk of death from alcohol-related causes is three times higher for men who have been in prison and, as we have heard, nine times higher for women compared to the general population. The weeks and months following release are a period of acute vulnerability. Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems supports the committee’s recommendations and calls for a national service specification with clear standards for alcohol treatment in justice settings. I agree; without clear national standards, inequality and inconsistency will persist.
The committee’s overarching conclusion is simple but profound: substance-related harm in Scotland’s prisons reflects wider systemic failures. If policy is truly to align with the principle that substance use is a public health issue with justice consequences, then health, prevention and recovery must be embedded in every aspect of prison life, from healthcare and security to purposeful activity, recovery-focused opportunities and reintegration.
I welcome all the work that is under way to bring that to reality. I take a moment to acknowledge all the organisations that go into our prisons daily to facilitate recovery opportunities. We owe the likes of Minds Of Recovery and Recovery Enterprises Scotland in Ayrshire, which go into HMP Kilmarnock offering connection and hope, a debt of gratitude and all our support.
::Will the member take an intervention?
::I am afraid that the member is concluding.
::If we want safer communities, fewer deaths and lower reoffending, we must ensure that our prisons are places where recovery is supported, dignity is upheld and reintegration is real.
::I remind all members who wish to speak in the debate to ensure that they have, in fact, pressed their request-to-speak button.
16:20
::It is clear from reading the findings of the Criminal Justice Committee’s inquiry into the harm caused by substance misuse in Scottish prisons that the issue is not just a justice problem but also a public health issue with far-reaching consequences for individuals, families and communities. Substance misuse in prison reflects deeper issues such as poverty, trauma, inequality and untreated mental health needs. Those needs often begin long before imprisonment and are made worse by the prison environment. Those points have been made by multiple speakers in this afternoon’s debate. Overcrowding, limited access to mental health services and a lack of purposeful activity create conditions that amplify harm in Scottish prisons.
When I visited Barlinnie a number of years ago, the then governor told me that the prison had, in his words, the biggest methadone queue in Europe. I spoke to some of the men in custody and a lot of them told me the same thing—that they did not take drugs or methadone before prison. They told me that life in prison with no access to courses or meaningful training due to overcrowding or because they were on remand and did not get access meant that they spent the vast majority of the time in a cell, completely bored, and they felt that the best or the only option for them was to take drugs and pass out in order to pass the time. That speaks to a justice system almost forcing people on to drugs just to pass the time.
::The point about purposeful activity has been raised by, probably, all speakers in the debate. Over the years, I have had the privilege of visiting HMP Grampian fairly regularly, and it provides some absolutely wonderful purposeful activity. One of the issues and challenges that it faces is access to third sector funding, given that many of the organisations that are involved are external organisations that come in. I put on the record that it is not just the issues around overcrowding and suchlike that are a challenge around purposeful activity.
::I will give you the time back for the intervention, Mr Griffin.
::Thank you. I appreciate the points that Audrey Nicoll has made. However, the point that prison management made to me was that those issues were down to overcrowding, to those who were on remand not qualifying for the purposeful activity courses, and to the numbers of prisoners on remand exacerbating the overcrowding issues. The remand figures cause real problems.
The committee’s report highlights that enforcement measures alone will not solve the crisis. Security measures such as body scanners and anti-drone technology are clearly important, and we need to tackle supply, but that has to be matched with prevention, treatment and recovery services. We need that whole-system approach.
Mental health care clearly needs improvement, too. Many individuals in custody struggle with mental health and substance use disorders but, as Elena Whitham pointed out, their access to treatment becomes inconsistent. The disparity between the treatment that they received outside prison in community healthcare and what they receive in prison starts to exacerbate the mental health issues that they have.
The transition from custody to community is a period of heightened risk for overdose, relapse and reoffending. Every person leaving prison should have a comprehensive release plan that includes housing, healthcare and support services, including those on remand, who sometimes do not go through a planned release programme, as I mentioned. Without that, the cycle of addiction, reoffending and imprisonment will carry on.
Many other members have mentioned the importance of involving lived experience in shaping poverty. The afternoon that I spent in Barlinnie, when I walked around the prison and talked to so many people about their experience of how they ended up there, what life was like and what was causing them to come back over and over, was crucial for gathering evidence and making policy.
Addressing substance misuse in Scottish prisons requires systemic reform. We need to break down barriers between the justice system and the health system, invest in prevention and treatment and ensure that prisons become places of rehabilitation rather than a revolving door.
16:26
::The Criminal Justice Committee’s inquiry into substance abuse in prisons was at times harrowing, often emotional when the committee met affected prisoners and, ultimately, extremely concerning on many levels.
It is a fact that our prisons, along with those in the rest of the UK, are overcrowded and that substance abuse is rife in them. Unsurprisingly, that has an impact on prisoners, overworked staff and the families of offenders. Our inquiry highlighted the need for early intervention and an emphasis on tackling the wider societal issues around the root cause of substance misuse before imprisonment.
Substance use leads to severe health risks, including overdoses and mental health deterioration. In the prison environment—a setting in which people are forced to live together 24 hours a day with multiple mental health and trauma issues—it can be catastrophic. Boredom and trauma are significant factors that drive substance use in prisons. The current overcrowding means that structured activities such as education and exercise, which help to reduce boredom, are unable to take place. Many prisoners report limited access to those activities and are unable to leave their cells for hours due to a lack of programming or staff who are available to supervise.
Questions must be asked about the number of short-term sentences that are being issued and, in fact, about the whole purpose of prison. Serious offenders who are at risk to others should, of course, be incarcerated, but too many people, including women who are suffering from trauma and health issues or who are victims of domestic abuse, are being locked up for minor offences. That must stop.
Prison wrecks families, blights children’s lives and rarely acts as a deterrent to offending. The excellent organisation Families Outside is a godsend to families who are trying to cope with the multiple effects of imprisonment. Families face emotional and financial strain due to a loved one’s substance use and imprisonment. Lack of information and often lack of communication from the prison exacerbates family distress and complicates relationships.
The committee also learned about the drug supply and the entry of drugs into prisons. Synthetic cannabinoids and benzodiazepines are the most detected substances, and they can be fatal due to the inability to gauge their quality or strength. Psychoactive drugs cause terror among staff and inmates due to the aggression and erratic behaviour that they cause.
As we have heard, during our prison visits, we saw a variety of items that are used to smuggle drugs into prisons. The use of drones is becoming increasingly common. Technology is struggling to keep pace with the inventive ways in which criminals are getting access to drugs.
Despite the extreme challenge that is being faced by prison and healthcare staff, work is being done to help prisoners to battle addiction. Recovery hubs and peer-led activities are emerging in prisons, but availability can vary due to staffing and operational pressures. The fact is, however, that the stigma that surrounds substance use and imprisonment can create barriers to seeking support. Peer-led support is essential for fostering a recovery culture in prisons. Harm reduction measures, including education and naloxone provision, are also essential for public health in prisons.
However, the implementation of the MAT standards can be inconsistent across prisons. As the convener of the Criminal Justice Committee mentioned, dual diagnosis of addiction and mental health issues needs to be addressed. Funding and resources are critical for effective adherence to MAT standards. A lack of clarity on how they apply in prison settings can complicate their implementation. Quick access to medication, especially opioid substitution therapy, is vital on admission to prison. It has been linked to reduced drug-related deaths post-release, emphasising its importance in treatment.
I conclude by stressing the support that is needed after release from prison. The first few weeks are critical. Many individuals face homelessness, which increases the risk of relapse. Effective throughcare planning is essential to ensure successful reintegration into the community. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that that happens and to constantly monitoring the issue of drug misuse in prisons.
::We move to closing speeches. I call Maggie Chapman to close on behalf of the Scottish Greens.
16:30
::The debate has reinforced something that many of us already knew: substance misuse in prison is not incidental; it is endemic and, as Elena Whitham highlighted, it reflects deeper failures long before someone reaches the prison gate. We have heard about the treatment gap—hundreds enter custody with alcohol dependence each year, yet only a fraction receive specialist support. We have heard about substitution with synthetic drugs. We have heard about the spike in deaths after release. Behind every statistic is a person—often someone who has experienced trauma, violence, poverty or being in care. Too many are criminalised for behaviours that are rooted in unmet need.
The committee report sets out clear and practical recommendations: validated assessment tools, scaling up specialist services, strengthening pre-release planning, improving continuity of care and expanding treatment conditions in community disposals. Those must be implemented in full and without delay. However, we should not mistake implementation for completion. If prisons remain overcrowded, remand continues to be overused and short sentences persist for low-level offending, we will continue to recycle people through systems that exacerbate instability, harm and ill health. As Elena Whitham said, such punishment cannot support recovery.
The Scottish Greens believe that we must reduce the prison population as a matter of urgency—not recklessly, but responsibly and in a way that is evidence led. We must stop locking up people—especially women, as Rona Mackay highlighted—who do not pose a risk to others. Instead, we must invest in community justice, housing first, and mental health and addiction services that people can access without entering the justice system at all.
Those who are incarcerated need the staff who support them to have the support, training and equipment that they need. As Pauline McNeill and others have recognised, staff should not have their own health and safety compromised as a consequence of incidents involving substance misuse.
We should also be bold on harm reduction through universal access to medication-assisted treatment; consideration of supervised consumption models in custodial settings; naloxone provision that is opt-out rather than opt-in; and peer-led recovery communities that are embedded in every establishment. Incarceration should not be a barrier to healthcare, whether that is medical or psychological support that is needed and then provided.
Above all, we must guarantee that liberation from prison does not mean abandonment by the state. No one should leave custody to homelessness. No one should leave without healthcare continuity. As Mark Griffin and others have highlighted, no one should leave without a plan. Justice that ends at the prison gate is not justice—it is abdication.
I place on record my thanks for the work of the Prison Officers Association on this important issue and for its briefing for the debate. I am grateful, too, for the information that Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems provided.
The committee’s report shines a light on a crisis that has been hidden for too long. The real test now is political will. Will we treat substance use as the health issue that it is? Will we invest upstream rather than paying downstream? Will we choose restoration over retribution? The Scottish Greens will continue to push for a justice system that is rooted in compassion, accountability and care—one that understands that healing communities requires healing people—because, if we want safer communities, we must build healthier and more equal ones.
16:30
::I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests: I am a former deputy director of the Leverhulme research centre for forensic science at the University of Dundee, which submitted evidence to the inquiry and is represented in the report.
I pay tribute to the work of my former colleagues. Since 2019, they have worked with the Scottish Prison Service to help us to understand the nature of the substances that are being consumed in our prison estate and some of the methods of delivery. In working with those members of staff—I certainly do not have the chemical expertise to do the analysis myself—I was always struck by the ingenuity of some of the prison population in getting those materials into the prison estate, and we have heard about that from various members in the debate.
Pauline McNeill raised a good point when she said that the public struggle to understand how it is possible to have drugs and alcohol at such levels in the prison estate. The report does us a service in beginning to build that public and policy understanding about how to deal with those issues.
The prison estate is no panopticon, as theorised by Michel Foucault—the cruel and ingenious cage of an idealised prison that presents and creates docile beings. The prison estate is a world away from that. The policing of the prison estate involves continuous conflict with the people in it who are trying to access substances—it is a constant battle. Elena Whitham made the point very well that any technological approach must sit alongside a relationship-based stewardship of our prison estate. We cannot just solve these problems, even though, as Mark Griffin highlighted, there are technologies that can be put in place. We must recognise that there will be a duality to the approach, which is absolutely key.
I was struck by some of the responses about purposeful activity. It is clear that the conditions of imprisonment are what people are attempting to escape from, in the less literal sense. They are trying to absent themselves from the mental drudgery and torture in their daily lives. People—typically, it is young men—who are in prison want to learn skills. Many of them want to learn to be joiners or brickies and think that they might have a better life for themselves and their family outside the prison door.
Audrey Nicoll talked about third sector organisations. I gently say to her that we are at a time when integration joint boards are being gutted by the Government—absolutely gutted. The third sector relies on our integration joint boards across Scotland, but we should recognise the severe cuts across the north-east, and particularly in Dundee.
Sharon Dowey and Mark Griffin touched on the issue of first-time addicts in the prison estate. The thought that people are going into prison and becoming addicts is horrific to the public, but we know that that happens, for the reasons that I have set out. We also know that, as a result, when people exit the prison gate, they are far more at risk of overdose because of the potency and availability of drugs in the outside world. We must make sure that, in dealing with our national drug deaths crisis, which is a source of huge shame and regret for the country and for the Government, we deal with those things directly and appropriately.
That touches on the issue of dual diagnosis and how our public services deal with mental health and addiction issues. In the conclusions of the Dundee drugs commission, which I was involved with, the issue of dual diagnosis was presented. That was many years ago, but it remains a massive problem in our locality in relation to how professionals recognise that people have dual issues and which services they need to access.
All those problems are exacerbated by a prison policy that has descended into chaos under this Government.
::I call Sue Webber to close on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives.
16:39
::Thank you, Presiding Officer—I thought that you had forgotten about me.
Under the SNP, Scotland’s prisons have become warehouses for addiction. The committee’s inquiry lays bare a system that is overcrowded, understaffed and completely out of control. Drugs are rife, alcohol dependency is ignored, and lives are being lost behind bars at an alarming rate.
::Will Ms Webber give way?
::If Ms Constance does not mind, I will not. I am a last-minute addition to the speakers list. Perhaps I will give way as I get through my speech; I am only four lines into it.
Let us be clear: prison should be a place of punishment, but it must also be a place of recovery. Right now, it is neither. The facts are damning. More than a third of prisoners now admit to using illegal drugs in custody. One in four say that their drug use started or increased inside prison, and the number of drone drops has exploded, rising from just six incidents to more than 70 in three years. Nearly 15,000 drug recoveries have been recorded. That is not harm reduction; it is institutional failure.
That breeding ground, in combination with a lack of vital rehabilitation services, means that prisoners are not set up properly for release and are not given the best chance at kickstarting their new life. Instead, they are more likely to relapse and reoffend as the right support is not available.
Alcohol misuse is being treated as an afterthought. Around 5,000 people enter custody every year with an alcohol dependency yet, last year, only 167 were referred for treatment. That is not a gap in provision; it is a collapse in basic care. Is it any wonder that deaths in custody are soaring? There have been 64 deaths in Scottish prisons in a single year, which is a 60 per cent increase. Researchers have identified repeated, preventable failures, such as missed cell checks, health concerns being dismissed as drug seeking, and mental health crises being ignored until it is far too late.
It is not just about drugs; it is about control. Overcrowding and staff shortages have allowed the prison drugs market to adapt faster than the system that is meant to stop it. Potent synthetic drugs such as spice are driving violence, psychosis and medical emergencies, which is putting prisoners and staff at serious risk. While the chaos unfolds, SNP ministers talk about compassion but deliver complacency. They fund programmes but do not track outcomes. They announce pathways to rehab but cannot say whether people recover. Since 2022, just 48 people have completed a 12-week residential rehab placement through the prison to rehab protocol. That is not a solution; it is tokenism.
The Government is obsessed with managing addiction, not ending it. We see that in our communities, and now we see it in our prisons. Instead of expanding access to meaningful, structured rehabilitation, the SNP has allowed prisons to become holding pens for people with complex addictions, releasing them back into society no safer, no healthier and no more hopeful than they were when they entered. That is failing victims; it is failing communities; and it is failing prisoners.
The Scottish Conservatives believe in something different. We believe that recovery, not just survival, must be the goal. We will continue to argue for the right to recovery, including access to residential rehabilitation for those who need it who are in custody and on release. Without treatment, stability and proper support, the cycle of addiction, crime and custody will never be broken. The committee’s inquiry should be a wake-up call. Ministers must stop pretending that the crisis is under control. They must restore order in prisons, properly resource staff, clamp down on supply and, crucially, guarantee access to treatment that actually works. Prisons should not be places where addiction festers; they should be places where lives turn around. Until the Government understands that, the drugs crisis inside and outside prison walls will continue on its watch. Enough excuses—the Government must start delivering recovery.
16:43
::Tapadh leibh, Oifigeir Riaghlaidh. I thank all committee members for their contributions to the debate. Drug and alcohol use in prison is a public health challenge as well as a justice challenge, and it is pleasing to hear so many members reflect that in their speeches. It is clear that members have given a lot of considered thought to the issue.
In the main, the recommendations in the committee’s report continue to take us in the direction in which we are travelling. There are others, though, that will require an incoming Administration to take them forward.
As the cabinet secretary said, we both welcomed the opportunity to provide evidence to the committee last September. That provided us with the opportunity to make the committee aware of some of the great work that has been carried out by the Scottish Prison Service and health staff to support those with drug or alcohol use issues, and I am pleased that the committee recognises those efforts. As I told the committee, although the number of people in prison who lose their lives from drug misuse is relatively small, two fifths of those in prison self-reported problematic drug use prior to imprisonment.
Many of the contributions have recognised the scale of alcohol-related need in prison. I am grateful for the briefing that came from SHAAP, and I look forward to meeting it to discuss the issues further before Parliament dissolves.
Prison should be somewhere where those issues are dealt with sensitively and effectively. As the Scottish Prison Service’s alcohol and drug strategy outlines, we need to treat substance use as a public health issue and ensure that the care that is provided in prison is, at the very minimum, equivalent to the care that is provided in the community.
We are driving improvement work for prison healthcare through a target operating model that includes improvements in actions for alcohol and drug services. The Public Health Scotland-based MAT implementation support team is also continuing to work to deliver a programme of support for justice and custodial settings. The standards reinforce a rights-based approach to the treatment that people should expect, regardless of the circumstances that they are in or where they are.
On recovery work, we are continuing to provide funding to the third sector to embed a person-centred, recovery-focused approach that benefits prisoners, families and staff. That continues into the transition and resettlement back into the community. Recovery initiatives are now in place across all prisons in Scotland, and I am pleased that the committee has recognised the importance of that work.
The committee has also recognised the importance of harm-reduction measures. In naloxone, we have a treatment that can reverse the effects of opiate overdose. We have expanded access to all prisons, and we are funding the Scottish Drugs Forum to deliver peer-to-peer naloxone supply for prisoners in the estate. We have also made national mission funding available to develop residential rehabilitation services and the associated aftercare that allows access to residential rehabilitation immediately on release from prison. It is for individual prisoners to consider whether that is a path that they want to follow, but, if it is one that they choose, we will fund that pathway.
As the national mission comes to an end, we remain committed to reducing harm and improving lives. We have been working closely with stakeholders, including people with lived and living experience, to develop a new alcohol and drugs strategy to follow the mission. The strategy will be published in the coming weeks, but I can say that our commitment in that area will be evident.
In closing, I repeat my thanks to the committee for its diligence in producing this considered and thoughtful report. I am pleased that it saw evidence from those who are directly affected, and that it visited establishments. It is clear from the tone of the report and from its recommendations that it strengthens our evidence base and drives work forward in this important area.
::I call Liam Kerr to wind up the debate on behalf of the Criminal Justice Committee.
16:49
::A key function of the committee system in a unicameral Parliament is to be independent of Government and party. At the outset, it is important to put on record that, in producing the report, the committee has largely fulfilled that objective, to its great credit. On that, it is important to thank the clerks and the advisers to the committee for facilitating and assisting with such a detailed and comprehensive inquiry, as well as all those who gave evidence, facilitated visits and candidly opened up about their experiences and challenges. The inquiry was detailed and cross party and, as Rona Mackay said, it was, at times, pretty difficult and harrowing. It examined evidence from the Government, the Scottish Prison Service, NHS representatives, third sector organisations, prison officers and those who have experienced addiction while in custody.
In many ways, we start from a common position. Scotland’s prisons are at capacity. They are overcrowded and face considerable challenges, which, as many members have pointed out today, have consequences. The parties mentioned in the report and, indeed, the members who are speaking in the chamber today will have very different perspectives on why that is the case and what the response should be, but I think that we are united in our conclusions that Scotland’s prisons face a public health emergency—one that is driven by trauma, inequality, mental health deficits and evolving drug markets.
Our report found that drug use in prisons was widespread and that substance misuse in Scotland’s prisons is entwined with overcrowding, workforce pressures, mental ill health, organised crime and regime instability. The figures underline that reality. Between 2012 and 2023, 50 drug misuse deaths occurred in custody. Sue Webber said that, in 2024 alone, 64 people died in prison. That is a 60 per cent increase on the previous year. The Prison Officers Association Scotland—POAS—told the committee that, since 2015, drug recoveries have increased by 80 per cent and weapon finds by 181 per cent. The evidence that it supplied for the debate shows that nearly 40 per cent of prisoners report using illegal drugs while in custody. Those are not isolated statistics, and they describe a custodial environment under sustained strain.
The committee heard about synthetic drugs, which Elena Whitham mentioned, creating volatility and unpredictability. We heard about organised crime adapting supply routes, including through drones, which the governor of Perth prison recently described as “public enemy number one”.
We heard about the operational consequences of episodes related to the management of offender at risk due to any substance—MORS—policy and hospital transfers. The POAS survey has some significant input in that regard, which we should all be aware of.
We agree that access to treatment and support is unsatisfactory, as are the levels of continuity of care for people leaving prison. Specifically, our report explored the long waiting times that offenders experience for mental health assessments, shortages of specialist staff and frequent disruption to services, all of which limit the provision of effective care.
We also heard from prison officers, who raised concerns about exposure to drug fumes, the practical operation of the MORS policy, training, and the physical and psychological demands placed on staff—and, of course, the fact is that these are the people who have to deal with deaths in custody. Their evidence must be taken really seriously, and their calls for action on PPE, investment and staffing levels need to be acted on.
I am pleased that the committee’s report does not frame the issue solely as a security or criminal problem, nor does it frame it solely as a public health problem. It is both, as the convener succinctly set out. We made many important recommendations, including on the need for improved national leadership and co-ordination, and on the implementation of medication assisted treatment standards across the prison estate. That is why I welcome much of the Scottish Government’s initial response, which acknowledges many of the pressures identified in the report. The response sets out work that is under way, including implementation of the target operating model, recovery initiatives, regime reviews and work around purposeful activity and family contact. It includes commitments to publish the alcohol and drugs strategic plan in March 2026, to develop and publish national standards for throughcare support over the next two years and to continue the roll-out and implementation of the MAT standards across the secure estate.
That activity is noted, but I speak for the committee when I say that what is key—and is absolutely the committee’s focus—is the outcomes of those interventions. A future Parliament must see deaths in custody reduce, drug-related hospital transfers decrease and access to treatment that is consistently proportionate to need. Further, purposeful activity must be protected in practice, not only in principle. Importantly, staff safety concerns, particularly around exposure and implementation of the MORS policy, must be understood and formally reviewed, and maximum protections must be put in place. On all those issues and more, the committee’s position is that our Parliament in the future must be able to assess measurable change, with full, honest transparency that enables scrutiny of impact, not only process.
Members across the chamber have rightly spoken about trauma, inequality and mental health. The report addresses those drivers directly and demands firm, concrete action, but it also recognises that recovery cannot take root in an environment of instability. Prevention cannot succeed where regimes are repeatedly disrupted, and staff cannot deliver safe, effective custody if they feel unprotected.
As a committee, we have made 50 recommendations across six themes. They are practical and evidence based and they reflect consensus that has been reached after extensive evidence gathering. Our report is comprehensive and coherent.
Today’s debate is important, but what matters far more is what follows it. When members in the next session of Parliament consider the issues, they must look for evidence that harm has reduced, that safety has improved and that custody in Scotland is delivering the rehabilitation that we need to see in practice. That is the standard that the committee has set and it is the standard to which the Parliament must be held.
::That concludes the debate on the substance misuse in prisons inquiry, on behalf of the Criminal Justice Committee. I will allow a moment or two for members on the front benches to organise themselves.