1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 N° convictions 5343 4922 5426 5363 4491 3981 4039 3401

* Based on individuals, double countings could occur.

It seems that throughout the years, the number of convictions for drug-related offences varies, although from 1998 on the numbers stay remarkably lower than the years before.

8.2.b Other drug related crime

Please refer to chapter 13 on public nuisance and in chapter 1.4 for the results of the study “drugs and nuisances” 24_”.

8.3. DRUG USE IN PRISON

Two NGO’s Modus Vivendi and Street Wise, carried out in 2003 a survey on the consumption of drugs in prison. This was undertaken within the framework of a European network for HIV and hepatitis prevention in prison and co-funded by DG SANCO 25_{, the}

Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Heatlh of the French Community. The project was also the second phase of a project funded in 1999 concerning the development of an epidemiologic tool for the monitoring of health risks linked to drug use.

The prisons were grouped in categories, according to their size and type. In each category, a prison was drawn at random. A sample of 10 prisons was settled (5 French- speaking and 5 Flemish-speaking).

In total 886 prisoners filled in the questionnaire. The questionnaire was self-administered, and standardised. It wasn’t however a European questionnaire. The detainees were contacted via a call for participation, entrusted to the directions of the various prisons. The rate of participation was 24%. This rate is weak, even compared to preceeding studies (1997 - rate around 70% in European Network for aids prevention 1998 -; 1999 - rate around 30% in De Maere et al.2001) but these studies were carried out only in one prison.

The primary aim of the study was to evaluate the detainees’ knowledge about the risks related to drug use, the risks of infectious diseases (HIV and hepatitis) related to non- protected sexual relations and other risky behaviours (piercing, tattooing, sharing of injection equipment).

The questionnaire asked about "lifetime use", "use in prison" and "first use in prison" among other issues. The "use during the last month" was not surveyed, as fear of suspicion and monitoring specific to the prison, was likely to influence the answers.

The next table deals with the prevalences of drug use in prison. Table 32 : Percentages of drug use in prison (%), 2003

(Standard table 12, 2004).

Use in prison First time used in _prison

Heroin 13.3 7.2 Cocaine 11.1 3.3 Speed 11.5 3.7 XTC 10.0 3.7 LSD 4.1 1.5 Methadone 5.8 2.3 Hashish 28.9 11.4 Benzodiazepines 11.8 5.3 Barbiturates 3.9 2.5 Alcohol 6.4 1.3 Others 3.5 0.8 Injection 2.5 0.9

Cannabis comes at the head of use in prison with 28.9% and heroin follows with 13.3%. 2.5% of the prisoners reported an injecting drug use.

25 _{Hariga, F., Todts, S., Doulou, M., et al. Drug use in prisons : monitoring of health risks : a survey in 10}

prisons in Belgium. European network for HIV prevention in prison, to be published. Personnal communication by HARIGA.F., coordinator for Belgium.

PART A New Developments and Trends

Belgian National Report on drugs 2004 ₉₁ 11.4% have reported their first use of cannabis in prison and 7% report a first use of heroin in prison. In addition, almost 1% reported their first use by injection in prison. Moreover, there is a tendency to polydrug use: while 37% use 1 substance; 13.67% uses 2 substances and 57.56% use 3 substances and more.

More than the half (63.6%) of drug users in prison justified their use as a mean “to relax”. 3.5% of the prisoners reported to share injecting materials in prison, against 4.2% before imprisonment. It seems that certain detainees give up this practice once in prison.

Approximately 80% of the detainees stated not to have received, in prison, written information on the use of drugs, the health risks and prevention messages.

In addition, drug use affects also non-users: 29.5% of them declare to have encountered problems related to the use of drugs, caused by other prisoners. In 46.3% of the cases, these non-users were victims of robbery.

The detainees show a good knowledge of the HIV’s transmission modes. The median number of good answers is 10, out of 13 questions.

On the basis of these questions, the following scale was established: weak, middle or good score HIV. 57.4% of the respondent obtained a "good" score.

The practice of tattooing and/or piercing was rated at 11.3% among prisoners presenting a weak HIV score, for 11.7% of the middle scores, and only 7.6% of the good scores. Several questions raised their perception on sexual risks:

The prisoners report the availability of condoms: - At the canteen in 66.7% of the answers

- In the medical department in 43.8% of the answers

- In the places dedicated to the marital visits in 77.2% of the answers

28.4% of the respondent state to have had sexual intercourse during one marital visit at least. Among those, only 9.5% always use a condom.

8.8% of the respondent state to have had sexual intercourse apart from the marital visit. More than the half (53.2%) of those do not use a condom.

8.9% of drug users reported to have followed a treatment involving methadone before the last imprisonment. In more than half of the cases (56.3%), this treatment was stopped at the early arrival in prison.

Concerning the consultations, 51.7% of the drug users did not see a GP during their imprisonment. However, for those who were under treatment, methadone was prescribed in 21.5% of the cases.

8.4. SOCIAL COSTS