---<br /> SCOTTISH prison chiefs are to scrap the compulsory drug testing of inmates<br /> after admitting it had failed to tackle rising heroin abuse behind bars.<br /> <br /> Prison officers say mandatory random drug tests (MRDTs), which were<br /> introduced ten years ago at the height of the so-called "war on drugs",<br /> have actually encouraged the use of heroin in jails.<br /> <br /> But opposition politicians say the decision shows the Scottish Executive<br /> has "thrown in the towel" on eradicating drugs in prisons.<br /> <br /> Under current rules at least 10 per cent of prisoners are tested every<br /> month. If an inmate tests positive, privileges, including access to their<br /> money, recreational activities and movement between jails, can be stopped.<br /> <br /> Under the proposed new system, there will be no such punishments. Instead,<br /> officers will concentrate their efforts on encouraging prisoners to seek<br /> treatment for their drug problems.<br /> <br /> Scrapping MRDTs is expected to be formally agreed later this year, but it<br /> is understood prison chiefs have already decided it is a necessary step.<br /> The Executive has given its blessing to the move.<br /> <br /> According to research, about half of prisoners will have taken drugs in<br /> jail in the previous month. Of those, nearly a third will have taken<br /> heroin.<br /> <br /> A senior prison source said: "The existing approach to tackling drugs in<br /> prison simply isn't working. People are continuing to use drugs. In fact,<br /> it pushed people on to other drugs which do not stay in someone's system<br /> for so long - like heroin, which only stays in the urine for three days.<br /> Often, people who are taking drugs were 'getting off' because the tests<br /> were coming back negative.<br /> <br /> "Mandatory testing only really works if people are willing to be treated,<br /> but if they aren't then it isn't much use."<br /> <br /> However, Annabel Goldie, the Tories' justice spokeswoman, said: "This is<br /> yet another indication that the Scottish Executive has thrown in the towel<br /> in the fight against drugs. When so many of our prisoners are known to be<br /> drug addicts, it is essential for both prison regimes and any meaningful<br /> attempt to assist prisoner rehabilitation that we know what's going on in<br /> our prisons.<br /> <br /> "This is a significant step backwards and yet further evidence that the<br /> Scottish Executive has given up on drug abuse in Scotland."<br /> <br /> A survey last year revealed that random drug tests had had "no effect" on<br /> more than three-quarters of prisoners.<br /> <br /> In 2003-4, nearly 6,500 mandatory tests - one for each prisoner - were<br /> carried out, revealing 32 per cent of inmates were taking heroin. About a<br /> fifth showed signs of cannabis abuse.<br /> <br /> Previously, the proportion of inmates taking heroin had remained<br /> relatively constant at about a quarter.<br /> <br /> Lord Forsyth, who as Scottish Secretary, introduced MRDTs to jails north<br /> of the Border in 1994, claimed the decision to abandon them showed the<br /> prison system had "failed lamentably" to tackle drug abuse.<br /> <br /> "This is a disaster for people who have to go into prison because people<br /> who go in without a drug problem very often come out with one," he said.<br /> <br /> "If you look at the causes of crime, drugs play a very important role,<br /> causing much re-offending, particularly in relation to robberies and<br /> assaults.<br /> <br /> "Prisons are supposed to be about protecting the public. They are not<br /> doing that if they are discharging people with drug problems.<br /> <br /> "To abandon [MRDT] because it hasn't worked is basically to acknowledge<br /> they have failed lamentably to address drug taking in prison."<br /> <br /> But Sir Clive Fairweather, a former chief inspector of prisons, accused<br /> Lord Forsyth of having forced mandatory drug testing on prisons when they<br /> did not have proper drug treatment programmes in place.<br /> <br /> "Michael Forsyth asked me what I thought about random drug testing," he<br /> said. "I felt the educational and rehabilitation programmes weren't in<br /> place, but he said he was going to press ahead with them anyway. He<br /> introduced them with astonishing speed.<br /> <br /> "The Scottish Prison Service did their best to implement what was a<br /> political decision."<br /> <br /> He went on: "The drug problem is getting so huge, it would make more sense<br /> to test people to find out who hadn't taken drugs.<br /> <br /> "I think it's a bold move by the prison service, although the public may<br /> not like it. It makes sense to transfer resources from the punitive,<br /> mandatory approach and concentrate on working with prisoners to help them<br /> overcome their problems."<br /> <br /> A significant chunk of the prison service's UKP4.4million addiction-problems<br /> budget is spent on MRDTs. About 7,000 testing kits have to be bought and<br /> analysed every year, and frontline officers have to spend a large amount<br /> of time carrying out the tests.<br /> <br /> More funds will in future be diverted towards rehabilitation programmes in<br /> an attempt to drastically reduce the number of prisoners being released<br /> with an addiction problem.<br /> <br /> Initially, prisoners who tested positive had their sentences increased,<br /> but that was scrapped after a challenge under human rights laws.<br /> <br /> Tom Wood, the chairman of the Edinburgh action team on alcohol and drugs<br /> and a former deputy chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police, said<br /> there was an "immense" drugs problem in prisons. "Sometimes we have to be<br /> bold and change tactics," he said. "We have got to try something new<br /> because the systems that have been tried up to now aren't working.<br /> <br /> "This is a radical move and people will say it's throwing in the towel,<br /> but I'm supportive of anything that gets to grips with the problem."<br /> <br /> Prison officers say moving away from mandatory testing will create a less<br /> confrontational approach by staff towards inmates, encouraging more to<br /> take part in drug treatment programmes.<br /> <br /> Eighty per cent of inmates who admit injecting heroin say they share<br /> needles, raising the spectre of an HIV and hepatitis epidemic in Scottish<br /> prisons.<br /> <br /> Professor Sheila Bird, who introduced HIV tests for prisoners at Saughton<br /> prison in Edinburgh in 1991, said mandatory tests had failed to show how<br /> many prisoners were injecting heroin. "MRDTs don't give you enough<br /> information about how drugs are taken," she said. "Why spend the money on<br /> having trained officers dealing with mandatory tests when all you get is a<br /> headline figure?"<br /> <br /> A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: "The SPS believe<br /> encouraging prisoners to face up to their problems at an earlier stage is<br /> central to a modern, mature approach to tackling drugs in prison. For many<br /> prisoners, this is a very tough decision. When they do, they can expect<br /> support from SPS."<br /> <br /> LATEST DEATH ADDS TO GRIM FIGURES<br /> <br /> THE latest drug overdose in a Scottish prison took place last weekend when<br /> a young woman was found dead at Scotland's only all-female prison.<br /> <br /> The woman's cell-mate was also rushed to hospital after using a batch of<br /> what is believed to have been contaminated heroin smuggled into the<br /> prison.<br /> <br /> Lynn Ann McLean, 21, of Kelso, was on remand at Cornton Vale Prison in<br /> Stirling when she was found dead in her cell on Sunday morning.<br /> <br /> At one point recently, 100 per cent of admissions were found to have<br /> addiction problems.<br /> <br /> The latest death highlighted the troubled history of Cornton Vale, where<br /> five women committed suicide in the late 1990s. An average of one suicide<br /> a year has taken place since 2000.<br /> <br /> A BBC investigation into Kilmarnock prison last month claimed officers<br /> turned a blind eye to drug-taking.<br /> <br /> Last year prison staff recorded 3,011 offences of taking or concealing<br /> drugs. 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