A Cunning Plan

It has been obvious to me for ages that our policy on drugs is simply not working. Any probation officer who has been around for any time will be aware of the phenomenon whereby a drug dependent client will beg you for a period of time in custody. I'm sure magistrates will be aware of this too because I've heard heart-felt pleas of 'please lock me up' from the dock on more than one occasion. The same goes for solicitors and it is hard not to be moved by the sheer desperation and hopelessness of such an individuals situation. This has come about basically because it is virtually impossible to obtain an in-patient bedspace for drug treatment. If by some miracle one was located, funding would be an impossibly bureaucratic nightmare. 

One might be tempted to ask how this has come about? The answer is partly the sheer numbers involved, but also that the politically correct, and by happy coincidence cheapest form of drug treatment, is by means of so-called community-based methadone prescribing. It's politically correct because the ethos says it enables the client to remain in their home, possibly employment and maintain their community support networks. The only trouble is the people I'm talking about are invariably homeless and 'sofa-surfing' hopelessly unemployable and all their mates are on drugs as well. So, in a situation like this, a request to be either remanded in custody or serve a sentence is an extremely rational decision. In the old days the itinerant town drunk would lob a brick through a shop window in order to spend Christmas eating HM Prison's festive turkey. Nowadays offences such as shoplifting are frequently committed deliberately by drug users as a route to residential drug treatment provided by HM Prison.

Again, one might be tempted to point out that prisons are hardly drug-free environments. I've certainly had clients go in clean and come out addicted and vice versa, but the key thing is the degree of motivation. Many clients have told me that it's much easier to get clean and stay clean in prison if you are minded to. It obviously helps if your 'padmate' is similarly inclined and you're on a drug-free wing, enforced by the inmates by the way, not the staff. Prisoners can be the best form of support for each other, or the worst of bad influences, such is the reality of incarceration.

Apart from cost and the absurdity of it, the main problem with this way of society dealing with the chronic drug problem is the length of sentence. Even with a record and history of failed community sentences, a string of new shop lifting offences will not often result in more than 6 months, and usually much less given an early guilty plea. Now the punitive amongst us might be surprised to hear that many clients would dearly love longer behind bars because they know a release in just a few weeks isn't enough to detox completely or to make the most of treatment that's on offer.

The answer to this has to be a bit more sophisticated than longer prison terms, essentially for drug treatment. We need a way of providing residential drug treatment facilities that are sufficient in number, relatively easy to access and affordable. But we're in a recession and government has no spare cash. Having read further about Social Impact Bonds and the project at HMP Peterborough, I think this could be a possible funding route with payment made on results.

We are all aware that many of our prisons hold inmates who have drug problems and I have outlined how many choose custody as a way of dealing with their addiction. If a way could be found to fund a network of residential treatment facilities, I feel there would be merit in exploring a radical alternative for low level drug dependant offenders that diverts them from the Criminal Justice System completely. I envisage such people being offered the opportunity of a residential treatment place as a possible alternative to a conviction and sentence following an admission of guilt. I suppose technically it could be viewed as a Deferred Sentence with a return to court should the placement break down for any reason. Successful completion would ideally in my view result in no conviction being recorded. I'm fairly sure this wouldn't be possible at the moment and might therefore require legislation, or at least some better qualified legal opinion than mine. 

What is obvious to me is that drug policy is failing completely at the present time and therefore some radical thinking might be appropriate. I think a scheme like this could deliver better treatment and lower prison numbers, with capital funding for the centres off the Public Sector books, and all with the prospect of real savings to the taxpayer. The Holy Grail and a cunning plan I think.