Crime and Percentage of Prisoners with Substance Abuse
From times unknown, prisons have been full with people who are incarcerated for crimes influenced by substance abuse. It is not a wonder that all the studies and researches conducted on prisoners worldwide have reported a whopping estimate of up to 50% substance/drug abuse among the criminals. These persons may have been confined for a range of drug/ alcohol related offences ranging from causing physical harm to erratic driving to possession of drugs. In US, about 45% of inmates in local jails and state prisons are said to be simultaneously grappling with substance use and psychological disorders. Also, studies carried out in 15 EU countries since 2000 reported that an estimate of 2–56% of prisoners have used any type of drug while in prison, with 9 countries reporting levels in the range 20–40%.
The drug most frequently used by prisoners is reported as cannabis, followed by cocaine and heroin. According to a report published in February in the US, found that of the 2.3 million U.S. inmates, 1.5 million suffer from substance abuse addiction and another 458,000 inmates either had histories of substance abuse and were under the influence of alcohol or other drugs at the time of committing their crimes. High prevalence of intravenous drug abuse in Indian prisons point to an alarming trend. Almost all incarcerated subjects reported availability of drugs in prison and incarceration neither deterred drug users from using drugs, nor did it motivate them to quit drugs in prison or post-release from prisons.
The study published on September 19, 2015, by Ravindra Rao M.D, Piyali Mandal and others suggested that most prisoners in India (93%) had committed illegal acts in their lifetime. Physical assault was the most common illegal act, while 23% reported selling drugs and 9% reported committing serious crimes. About 95% were arrested and 92% had spent time in police lockups. About 29% were arrested for drugs possession or drug use, and 3% of injecting drug users arrested for carrying injection equipment. About 85% had been imprisoned at least once, of whom 88% used psychoactive substances in the 1-month period before their last imprisonment. Opioids were the most common substances used daily (68%), followed by cannabis (34%) and alcohol (22%). Ninety-seven percent reported the availability of substances in prisons, and 65% also used substances during their last imprisonment. Cannabis (35%) was the most common substance used in prison followed by opioids (19%). Seventy-six percent used substances soon after prison release, and 13% of opioid users experienced opioid overdose soon after prison release. Use of cannabis, injecting drugs, and opioid use before imprisonment were predictors of substance use in prison.
“Opioid-dependent people have various contacts with the law, including imprisonment. Many users are dependent on substances during prison-entry, which is an important reason for their continued substance use in prisons.” A news report, published jointly by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and India’s Ministry of Social Justice says that India has a widespread drug problem. the report also says that alcohol, cannabis, opium, and heroin are the major drugs misused in India and Buprenorphine, propoxyphene, and heroin are the most commonly injected drugs. “More than half of Punjab’s prison inmates involved in drugs cases, of the 24,000 inmates lodged in jails as on 6 th August 2019, over 12,000 are either convicted or facing trial under NDPS Act,” says Minister of Jails – S.S. Randhawa. Over 500 women are also in jails under the NDPS Act, said the minister. According to The Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, some inmates imprisoned for drug crimes do not have a drug problem. But addiction is still common among prisoners. about half of people in prison or jail meet the criteria for substance abuse or dependence.
Tabea Schoeler, at King’s College London and her colleagues conducted a new study on “A causal relationship between exposure to cannabis and subsequent violent outcomes across a major part of the lifespan. The evidence provided by this new study concluded that 20% of the boys who started using pot by age 18 continued to use it through middle age (32-48 years). One fifth of those who were pot smokers (22%) reported violent behavior that began after beginning to use cannabis, whereas only 0.3% reported violence before using weed. Continued use of cannabis over the lifetime of the study was the strongest predictor of violent convictions, even when the other factors that contributes to violent behavior were considered in the statistical analysis. The results showed that continued cannabis use is associated with 7-fold greater odds for subsequent commission of violent crimes. The authors also suggest that impairments in neurological circuits controlling behavior may underlie impulsive, violent behavior, as a result of cannabis altering the normal neural functioning in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.
The Police of Greater Noida, Delhi, once said in a news report, 2013, that the prisoners allegedly used to strike deals to smuggle drugs into the prison. They swallowed the drugs along with plastic bags and excreted them in the prisons, after which, they either consumed them on their own or sold them to the other mates in the prisons. The menace of drug/substance abuse seems to be wide spread and uncontrollable in the prisons of India.
“Idleness’ in the prisons is driving intoxicated prisoners to quarrel among themselves and create ruckus. Weed/cannabis/Marijuana is a widely available drug. New research published in Wikipedia Commons in advance of print in the journal Psychological Medicine concludes that persistent use of cannabis may cause violent behavior as a result of changes in brain function due to smoking weed over many years. This explains why inmates of a prison continue to be violent even after they are incarcerated for their crimes.
The above studies allow us to conclude that crime and substance abuse are inter-connected. A steady control of availability and exposure to alcohol, weed and other drugs could bring down the rate of crime across the world to a substantial substantial amount. The youth can be more productive and security can be established in various walks of life. Also treatment programs for the addicted inmates could come handy in controlling crime to a certain extent.
In a 2014 editorial in The Washington Post, renowned addiction specialist David Sack suggested that prisons create an evaluation system to identify substance use disorders and underlying problems that contribute to addiction, such as trauma or anxiety. Many modern-day prisons have programs designed to help prisoners battling addiction. But they do not match the professionalism of traditional rehab centres. A number of correctional programs in the prisons today offer psychotherapy sessions, spiritual guidance and addiction recovery programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous to inmates with substance use problems. Though these treatments are not evidence-specific and customised as in cognitive behaviour therapies, self-help group meetings for recovering addicts are common and effective in the prisons.
