Meeting of the Parliament 26 February 2026 [Draft]
I welcome the Criminal Justice Committee’s report on substance use in Scotland’s prisons and thank the committee members for their care in ensuring that lived and living experience are at the heart of that report.
The evidence that the committee heard was consistent and compelling: substance use in custody is a public health issue with justice consequences. Drug and alcohol use in prison does not begin at the prison gates but reflects trauma, poverty, inequality and untreated mental distress that long predate imprisonment. If we fail to address those drivers, prisons will continue absorbing unmet health and social needs that they were never designed to manage.
The committee is clear that enforcement is necessary but not sufficient. Order and safety matter and we must commend the sustained professionalism of prison officers, healthcare staff and police officers who work in extremely challenging circumstances, facing the consequences of organised crime and drug-related emergencies every day, especially, as we have heard, in relation to the circulation of potent drugs such as spice and synthetic opioids.
However, punishment does not deliver recovery. Overcrowding is a fundamental barrier to progress and high population levels in prison restrict access to purposeful activity, reduce therapeutic space, compress staff time and disrupt the continuity of care. If we are serious about prevention and early intervention, we must recognise that sustainable reform depends on reducing the pressures created by an overcrowded prison estate and that community justice is not soft justice but smart justice.
The committee recommends a custody-focused prevention and early intervention framework that embeds trauma-informed care, properly links mental health and substance use services and supports recovery right through from admission to release. Crucially, the same standards must apply in custody as in the community, and treatment should neither stop when someone enters prison nor collapse when they leave. We have already heard that point highlighted.
Parity of mental health provision is essential. Addiction must never be a barrier to accessing mental health care and people in custody should have timely assessment, access to talking therapies, trauma-specific intervention, peer recovery groups and integrated treatment for co-occurring conditions.
The report also calls for strengthened, rights-based information and advocacy and for consistent family contact, including digital access and phone calls. That is really important and is not a soft thing either, because contact with family on the outside is vital to wellbeing. There is also a need for expanded anti-stigma training for staff and a guaranteed baseline of purposeful activity across the estate, and Parliament must be able to monitor progress through clear and regular reporting.
On the issues of supply and security, the committee accepts that total interdiction is unrealistic in an era of synthetic drugs. Technology absolutely has a role but must complement, not replace, relationship-based security and investment in staff. Organised crime groups exploit vulnerability within prisons and that must be tackled as part of wider national strategies. However, we cannot measure success by seizures alone. We must reduce harm and demand, including by continuing to ensure that testing of seized substances helps to reduce harm in an ever-evolving market.
Disciplinary responses must also be proportionate because there is a clear distinction between organised criminal supply and personal use that is rooted in dependency, with the latter requiring a health-led response and not simply further punishment.
As we have heard, alcohol abuse is a crisis that is all too often forgotten in our justice system. We heard from the convener and from Maggie Chapman that only around 1.1 per cent of those in the prison population have been referred to specialist alcohol services. That is a stark treatment gap. Although withdrawal management on admission is generally effective, support during the remainder of prison time is inconsistent, continuity of care on release is variable and the consequences are grave. The risk of death from alcohol-related causes is three times higher for men who have been in prison and, as we have heard, nine times higher for women compared to the general population. The weeks and months following release are a period of acute vulnerability. Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems supports the committee’s recommendations and calls for a national service specification with clear standards for alcohol treatment in justice settings. I agree; without clear national standards, inequality and inconsistency will persist.
The committee’s overarching conclusion is simple but profound: substance-related harm in Scotland’s prisons reflects wider systemic failures. If policy is truly to align with the principle that substance use is a public health issue with justice consequences, then health, prevention and recovery must be embedded in every aspect of prison life, from healthcare and security to purposeful activity, recovery-focused opportunities and reintegration.
I welcome all the work that is under way to bring that to reality. I take a moment to acknowledge all the organisations that go into our prisons daily to facilitate recovery opportunities. We owe the likes of Minds Of Recovery and Recovery Enterprises Scotland in Ayrshire, which go into HMP Kilmarnock offering connection and hope, a debt of gratitude and all our support.