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Table DUP-2. Prevalence of lifetime injecting drug use among prisoners, 2000–06

CountryYearSource/ref. (1)Definition and methodological comments (2)Drug used
(and if any: restriction on base population)Note% IDU
Belgium20031Persons reporting injecting drug use (prior/within prison).Comment: survey in a random sample of 10 prisons (over a total of 38) amongst on remand, convicted and social defence (psychiatric cases) prisoners (n= 886).any illicit drug15
Bulgaria20061Persons registered (in the judicial and medical files) as lifetime drug users prior to imprisonment (self-report). Comment: national survey in 6 prisons among on remand detainees (n= 3733). any illicit drug7
Bulgaria20061Persons registered (in the judicial and medical files) as lifetime drug users prior to imprisonment (self-report). Comment: national survey in 17 prisons among on remand detainees (n= 7274). cocaine0.04
heroin4
amphetamines0.03
ecstasy0.01
Bulgaria20045Persons in contact with health services, psychologists and social workers reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior to imprisonment. Comment: national survey in all prisons in Bulgaria (n= 11.521).any illicit drug(4)2
heroin(4)1
other drugs than heroin(4)0.9
France20031Persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use. Comment: nationwide survey in 134 prisons (out of 187) among a representative sample of on remand and convicted Persons entering prison (n= 6087).7
Latvia20031Persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior to imprisonment. Comment: national survey in 11 (out of 15) prisons with at least 100 convicted persons (n= 2867).20
Hungary20041Persons reporting injecting drug use prior to imprisonment. Comment: national survey in 11 prisons amongst a proportional random sample of adult male convicted prisoners of Hungarian citizenship (n= 609).any illicit drug (adult males)7
Hungary20041Persons reporting injecting drug use (both prior to and in prison). Comment: national survey in 11 prisons amongst a proportional random sample of adult male convicted prisoners of Hungarian citizenship (n= 609).any illicit drug (adult males)8
Portugal20011Persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior to imprisonment. Comment: nationwide survey (47 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 2057).any illicit drug 27
Romania20061Persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior/within prison. Comment: survey in 27 prisons among prisoners (n=3218) any illicit drug 6
Finland20002Persons reporting injecting drug use (ever used). Comment: national survey among a sample of voluntary HIV tested convicted prisoners (n= 1612).polydrug users39
heroin/opiates5
amphetamines56
United Kingdom (England and Wales)20011Women reporting having ever injected drugs prior to imprisonment. Comment: national survey of female prisoners on remand and convicted in 10 prisons (n= 301).any illicit drug (females)38
cocaine/crack (females)5
heroin/opiates (females)35
amphetamines (females)7
other tranquilizers (females)1

Notes:

 (2) Caution should be applied when considering that a survey is said to be 'national' as this refers to its intended geographical coverage, but does not mean it is necessarily representative of the national situation, which would depend on any sampling procedures adopted. Note that the size of the prison population surveyed is not available for most of the studies displayed in this table, and sample sizes reflect different proportions of the population in different countries. 

 (4) Bulgaria: due the fear of sanction it is likely that drug use is under-reported. 

Sources:

 For access to sources and bibliographic references, refer to Table DUP-0.  

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Page last updated: Friday, 01 August 2008