Addictions in prison - A survey on socio-sanitary care for addicted prisoners using or overusing licit or illicit substances

At the request of authorities (Interministerial Mission for the Fight Against Drugs and Drug Addiction, Ministry of Employment and Solidarity, Ministry of Justice), the 2003 survey on socio-sanitary care in prison enabled a first assessment of the enforcement of the August 9th, 2001 Interministerial Note. The latter asked the penal and sanitary departments involved to investigate the availability of care services for drug users inside prison (by outlining a common inventory) in order to reconfigure prison health care by introducing more collaboration between services and developing a public health approach to the organisation of prisons. Such an organizational scheme whose procedure applies to “the care of prisoners having an overuse or an addiction problem” was supposed to fully identify the role of each service involved.