Top judge says drug addicts fuel jail overcrowding

[Lunar Loops]

This from Reuters (UK):
Top judge says drug addicts fuel jail overcrowding

Tue May 30, 2006 11:45 AM BST


LONDON (Reuters) - Drug addicts are deliberately committing crime to receive treatment in prison, fuelling chronic overcrowding, the top judge in England and Wales said.
Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips said short sentences were pointless and that drug users convicted of less serious offences should receive treatment outside prison.
Overcrowding was "absolutely fatal" for the treatment of inmates, he added. "We need much better drug rehabilitation facilities in the community," he said in an interview with the Guardian on Tuesday. "It should not be necessary to commit an offence in order to get drug treatment.


"I am afraid the reality in many parts of the country is that it is."
A spokesman for his department said Lord Phillips was concerned people would commit offences to be sent to prison because they had had trouble receiving treatment within the community.
"They think 'my best way of sorting this out is to commit another offence,'" the spokesman said. "Obviously he doesn't condone that thought process. There needs to be more community rehabilitation to stop that mind-set."
Drugs education charity DrugScope said his comments confirmed anecdotal evidence from drug treatment workers. "Treatment waiting times have fallen, but more needs to be done to improve access, choice of treatment and retention," the group's Chief Executive Martin Barnes said in a statement.

LONDON (Reuters) - Drug addicts are deliberately committing crime to receive treatment in prison, fuelling chronic overcrowding, the top judge in England and Wales said.
Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips said short sentences were pointless and that drug users convicted of less serious offences should receive treatment outside prison.
Overcrowding was "absolutely fatal" for the treatment of inmates, he added. "We need much better drug rehabilitation facilities in the community," he said in an interview with the Guardian on Tuesday. "It should not be necessary to commit an offence in order to get drug treatment.


"I am afraid the reality in many parts of the country is that it is."
A spokesman for his department said Lord Phillips was concerned people would commit offences to be sent to prison because they had had trouble receiving treatment within the community.
"They think 'my best way of sorting this out is to commit another offence,'" the spokesman said. "Obviously he doesn't condone that thought process. There needs to be more community rehabilitation to stop that mind-set."
Drugs education charity DrugScope said his comments confirmed anecdotal evidence from drug treatment workers. "Treatment waiting times have fallen, but more needs to be done to improve access, choice of treatment and retention," the group's Chief Executive Martin Barnes said in a statement.