UK Inquiry Tracker

Tackling drugs in prisons

Justice Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 17 Dec 2024 Closed: 22 Apr 2026 Parliament page

The Justice Committee has launched an inquiry that will examine the scale and impact of drugs in prisons in England and Wales, including the primary factors driving demand. The inquiry will consider the implications of drug misuse in prisons including safety, security, staffing and prisoner well-being. The inquiry will look … Read more

11 Recommendations

30 Conclusions

1 Report

2 Oral sessions

1 Letter

3 Events

Activity timeline 6 events

9 Jan
2026

Report published

3rd Special Report – Tackling the drugs crisis in our prisons: Government Response

31 Oct
2025

Report published

6th Report - Tackling the drugs crisis in our prisons

22 Jul
2025

Correspondence

Correspondence from Lord Timpson, Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, dated 22 July 2025 relating to the oral evidenc…

8 Jul
2025

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

25 Mar
2025

Formal meeting (private meeting) · Room 13, Palace of Westminster

Committee event

25 Feb
2025

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

Oral evidence sessions 2 sessions

8 Jul 2025

View on parliament.uk

Matt Grey · HM Prison and Probation Service Richard Vince CBE · HM Prison and Probation Service The Lord Timpson OBE DL · Ministry of Justice

25 Feb 2025

View on parliament.uk

Babafemi Dada · HMP Long Lartin Charlie Taylor · HM Inspectorate of Prisons Dame Carol Black Elisabeth Davies · Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) Natalie McKee · HMP Hindley Rob Luxford · HMP Liverpool

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
6th Report - Tackling the drugs crisis in our prisons	HC 557	31 Oct 2025	41	Response document linked

Recommendations & Conclusions

41 results

160 Conclusion

6th Report - Tackling the drugs cr…

Widespread illicit substance availability normalises drug use and addiction within prisons.

The widespread and increasing availability of illicit substances has fostered a culture of acceptance that normalises drug use in prisons. This makes the presence of drugs inescapable for many prisoners. The situation is made worse by two key factors: the … Read more

Ministry of Justice

Tackling drugs in prisons

Activity timeline 6 events

Oral evidence sessions 2 sessions

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

Widespread illicit substance availability normalises drug use and addiction within prisons.

Restore consistent, high-volume Mandatory Drug Testing across the entire prison estate.

Increase Mandatory Drug Testing rates across prisons to at least pre-pandemic levels.

Speed up plans to introduce wastewater-based drug surveillance across the entire prison estate.

Revise drug testing policy for dual response: disciplinary action and treatment referral.

Significant shift towards undetected New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) in prisons.

Take urgent steps to address the evolving threat of New Psychoactive Substances in prisons.

Consistently update prison drug testing methods to detect evolving New Psychoactive Substances.

Implement new secure systems for distributing and administering prison medication to prevent diversion.

High prison population and overcrowding exacerbate drug demand by limiting purposeful activity and support.

Expand access to purposeful activities and training programmes for prisoners to reduce drug demand.

Ensure mandatory specialised training for all HMPPS staff in substance misuse and trauma-informed care.

Drug-related debt and exploitation are fundamental drivers of prison violence and systemic instability.

Drug-related medical emergencies strain prison staff and reduce purposeful activity, fueling drug demand.

Mandate universal rollout of take-home naloxone kits and training for all leaving custody.

Mandate consistent and comprehensive training for all frontline staff on responding to medical emergencies.

High prevalence of drugs, particularly NPS, poses an unacceptable threat to prison staff safety.

Regard staff exposures to drugs as serious workplace safety violations requiring immediate investigation.

Significant backlog in adjudication process undermines prison discipline and progression model

Require balancing prisoner punishments with mandatory drug treatment referrals and resourcing consistent adjudications

Inconsistent deployment of security measures undermines their effectiveness against criminal networks

Allocate dedicated capital funding for advanced prison detection technology and software updates

Develop and enforce national secure protocol for verifying prison legal correspondence

Systemic failure to maintain prison physical security measures due to delays and inadequate resourcing

Empower prison governors with authority for rapid procurement and repair of security infrastructure

Conduct proactive, unannounced annual inspections of physical security measures across all prisons

Align HMPPS personnel vetting requirements with tier-one security agencies and mandate lifelong vetting

Amend HMPPS recruitment to mandate face-to-face interviews by local governors for frontline staff

Reliance on staff sightings underestimates serious threat of increasing drone incidents

Current detection technologies outpaced by sophisticated drones and illicit mobile phone use

Employ dedicated intelligence-sharing protocols and joint task forces against organised drone and phone gangs

Develop and deploy comprehensive anti-drone strategy and technology across high-risk prisons

Eliminating external communication is critical to disrupting prison drug supply chains

Accelerate deployment of advanced contraband detection and signal disruption technology with trained personnel

Collaborate to develop systems tracking electronic transactions linked to OCG activity in prisons

Manage key OCG operators under enhanced security, segregating them from general prison population

Effective collaboration requires consistent intelligence sharing to disrupt OCG drone operations

Advanced drug detection technology is an essential prerequisite for preventing drug ingress

Ensure uniform security standards throughout the prison estate to mitigate all potential ingress risks.

Complex and fragmented commissioning structure compromises prison substance misuse and healthcare services.

Mandate overhauling prison substance misuse commissioning, separating services from general healthcare contracts.

Correspondence 1 letter