What do prisoners think of drug treatment?

A very mixed picture By way of a change today, I am actually summarising a piece of research undertaken by myself. Over the last two months I’ve been researching the experiences of opiate using offenders seeking substitute prescribing (methadone or buprenorphine – usually known as Subutex or “Subbies”) in prison and on release. Interestingly, service users had very mixed experiences with some finding access to a script easier than in the community while others received no help despite being on a prescription in the community prior to being sent to prison. I used two main methods to gain service user views. First, an online survey was completed by 102 opiate users who had been in an English or Welsh prison in the last two years. Opiate using prisoners were identified and recruited by 10 peer researchers trained, supervised and supported by the Revolving Doors Agency. Analysis of the survey data informed the second stage of the research study; a focus group with nine individuals with recent experience of Opioid Substitute Treatment (OST) in prison..........