Prisoners in Scotland are to be offered cognitive therapy to tackle growing problems with alcohol-related violence and health problems.
The first study of its kind has revealed that two in five prisoners have problems with alcohol misuse, compared with one in eight people in the population at large.
Traditionally, the focus in prisons has been on drugs misuse, but the report shows there is an urgent need to tackle the underlying causes of alcohol-related problems. Despite having almost no access to the substance within jail, 44% of prisoners were recorded as having problems with alcohol misuse.
The Scottish Prison Survey also found that 40% had committed their crime while under the influence of alcohol, and 46% were keen to get help with their drinking problems while in jail.
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) already assesses the health and substance misuse problems of every prisoner on arrival, and provides a range of interventions, including detox for drug addiction, counselling, and anger management programmes.
However, psychologists are now developing a specialist cognitive behavioural programme to address those with particular alcohol misuse problems. Research shows that for every £1 spent on alcohol treatment, up to £5 is recouped for public services.
Dr Andrew Fraser, head of the health service at SPS, said tackling the underlying problems of alcohol misuse in prison was key to reducing alcohol-related problems and violence in society.
"There is an under-recognised relationship between alcohol and violence," he said. "It has been in the shadow of drugs. But this is the best place to treat people.
"Obviously, alcohol is not readily available in prison and it is not as easy to get hold of as drugs. Hooch is still made in small quantities as, despite the best efforts of staff, prisoners conceal it and they have access to potatoes and sugar."
Dr Lesley Graham, a specialist in public health, has conducted research into this specific area. She said: "It is well established that alcohol misuse and alcohol-related health problems in society are getting worse. Nearly half of prisoners said they were willing to accept help and therefore wanted help with their alcohol misuse problems.
"We have got a population who are the hardest to reach in the community setting but in prison they are easy to reach. The question is whether they will also be easy to treat. The statistics show almost half of them want help and that is a great starting point.
"Prison health is public health. We must recognise that prisoners are part of the community; they come from it and they all go back out into the community. They should have at least the equivalent health provision available to the rest of the public."
Last year, doctors called for an increase in the price of alcohol after a study estimated more than 28,000 victims of drink-related violence were treated in accident and emergency units each year. They also suggested measures could also be introduced to prevent supermarkets offering discounted drinks promotions.
The NHS Quality Improvement Scotland report said around 77 people a day attended accident and emergency departments for alcohol-related assaults. Consumption of alcohol by adults in Scotland has risen by 23% over the past 10 years and the number of alcohol-related illnesses has increased dramatically.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article