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Table DUP-2. Prevalence of lifetime injecting drug use among prisoners, 2000–11
Part (ii) Methodological notes
| Country | Year | Source/ref. (1) | Definition and methodological comments (2) | Drug used | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (and if any: restriction on base population) | Note | % IDU | ||||
| Belgium | 2010 | 1 | Persons reporting injecting drug use (prior/within prison). Comment: cross-sectional national survey in all the 32 Belgian prisons in a representative sample of 10% of prisoners in each prison, including remanded, sentenced and mentally disordered prisoners, both males and females (n= 1251) | any illicit drug | 15 | |
| 2006 | 2 | Persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use. Comment: national survey in all the 32 Belgian prisons in a representative sample of 10% of adult prisoners, including remanded, sentenced and mentally disordered prisoners, both males and females (n = 902). | any illicit drug | 18 | ||
| 2003 | 3 | Persons 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 drug | 15 | ||
| Bulgaria | 2010 | 2 | Persons reporting ever injecting drug use (prior/within prison) Comment: cross-sectional national survey in all prisons among all convicted men and females, all ages during March 2011 (n= 3703) (Repeated survey, previous one in 2006, next planned every two years) | any illicit drug | 19 | |
| 2009 | 3 | Persons reporting at admission to the prison ever injecting drug use prior to imprisonment Comment: national survey in 17 remand prisons among all convicted, defendant adults and detained persons in prison and remand arrest during the year (n= 5776) | heroin | 7 | ||
| 2006 | 4 | Persons registered (in the judicial and medical files) as lifetime injecting drug users prior to imprisonment (self-report). Comment: national survey in 6 prisons among on remand detainees (n= 3733). | any illicit drug | 7 | ||
| 2006 | 4 | Persons registered (in the judicial and medical files) as lifetime injecting drug users prior to imprisonment (self-report). Comment: national survey in 17 prisons among on remand detainees (n= 7274). | cocaine | 0.04 | ||
| heroin | 4 | |||||
| amphetamines | 0.03 | |||||
| ecstasy | 0.01 | |||||
| 2004 | 7 | Persons 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= 11521). | any illicit drug | (4) | 2 | |
| heroin | (4) | 1 | ||||
| other drugs than heroin | (4) | 0.9 | ||||
| Czech Republic | 2010 | 1 | Persons reporting injecting drug use prior to current imprisonment Comment: First cross-sectional national survey in 35 out of 36 Czech prisons among a random sample of prison inmates (out of 19570 prisoners were randomly selected 2000 respondents of whom 1668 did really answer). Field has been conducted during 13 days in all Czech prisons. (N=1668) (Planned every two years) | any illicit drug | 22 | |
| 2010 | 1 | Persons reporting ever injecting any drug (prior/within prison) Comment: First cross-sectional national survey in 35 out of 36 Czech prisons among a random sample of prison inmates (out of 19570 prisoners were randomly selected 2000 respondents of whom 1668 did really answer). Field has been conducted during 13 days in all Czech prisons. (N=1668) (Planned every two years) | any illicit drug | 31 | ||
| Germany | 2007 | 2 | Persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior to imprisonment. Comment: survey in 6 prisons in 3/16 federal states in a quota sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 1457) | any illicit drug | 31 | |
| Spain | 2006 | 1 | Persons reporting injecting lifetime drug use prior to imprisonment Comment: nationwide survey in 66 prisons in a random sample of prisoners (n= 4934) (women overrepresented). | any illicit drug | 26 | |
| France | 2003 | 3 | Persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior to imprisonment. Comment: nationwide survey in 134 prisons (out of 187) among a representative sample of on remand and convicted Persons entering prison (n= 6087). | any illicit drug | 7 | |
| Italy | 2001-02 | 17 | Persons reporting a history of injecting drug use. Comment: cross-sectional survey in a convenience sample of males and females in 8 prisons in different areas of Italy (n = 973). | any illicit drugs | 30 | |
| Latvia | 2010 | 1 | Persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior to imprisonment Comment: Repeated cross-sectional national survey in 11 (out of 15) prisons, convicted persons (n= 1965) | cocaine | 7 | |
| heroin | 21 | |||||
| amphetamines | 27 | |||||
| ecstasy | 7 | |||||
| 2003 | 2 | Persons 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). | any illicit drug | 20 | ||
| Lithuania | 2011 | 1 | Persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior/within prison. Comment: Local survey in one penitentiary (Alytus) among a random sample of convicted men (n=329) | any illicit drug | 48 | |
| Hungary | 2008 | 2 | persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior to imprisonment Comment: national cross-sectional survey in 22 prisons amongst a proportional random sample of adult both males and females convicted prisoners of Hungarian citizenship (n= 503) | any illicit drug | 10 | |
| 2004 | 3 | Persons 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 | ||
| 2004 | 3 | Persons 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 | ||
| Poland | 2001 | 2 | Persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior to imprisonment. Comment: nationwide survey (38 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted adult male prisoners (n= 1189) | any illicit drug (adult males) | 6 | |
| Portugal | 2007 | 1 | Persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior to imprisonment. Comment: nationwide survey (44 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 1986). | Cocaine | 12 | |
| Heroin | 13 | |||||
| 2007 | 1 | Persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior/within prison. Comment: nationwide survey (44 prisons) in a random sample of on remand and convicted prisoners (n= 1986). | any illicit drug | 21 | ||
| 2001 | 2 | Persons 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 | ||
| Romania | 2011 | 1 | Persons reporting regular or occasional injecting drug use prior/within prison Comment:national survey in 27 prisons among prisoners both judicial status (on-remand, convicted), both gender (men, women) and age: minor (≤17 years), young offenders (18-21 years) and adults (22-64 years). Type of institutions covered: maximum security/close/remand, semi-open and open, minors and youths, reform centre and hospitals. Sampling method probabilistic, stratified and multistage. Second study, first one was conducted in 2006. (n=2064) | cocaine | 2 | |
| heroin | 10 | |||||
| amphetamines | 0.2 | |||||
| 2006 | 2 | Persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior/within prison. Comment: survey in 27 prisons among prisoners (n=3218) | any illicit drug | 6 | ||
| United Kingdom (England) | 2004-05 | 1 | Women reporting lifetime injecting drug use. Comment: survey in 2 remand prisons for women among all new receptions during certain pre-defined periods (n = 505). | any illicit drug (females) | 38 | |
| Croatia | 2011 | 1 | persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior to imprisonment. Comment: survey among attendees to the depapartment for diagnostics and programming (all admissions at entry), who had been convicted and still have more than six months of servitude, regardless on his/hers gender and age (n= 2133) | any illicit drug | 5 | |
| cocaine | 0.2 | |||||
| heroin | 5 | |||||
| 2010 | 2 | persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior to imprisonment. Comment: survey among attendees to the depapartment for diagnostics and programming (all admissions at entry), who had been convicted and still have more than six months of servitude, regardless on his/hers gender and age (n= 2181) | cocaine | 0.6 | ||
| heroin | 2 | |||||
| 2009 | 3 | persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior to imprisonment Comment: survey among attendees to the depapartment for diagnostics and programming, who had been convicted and still have more than six months of servitude, regardless on his/hers gender and age (n= 1916) | any illicit drug | 5 | ||
| cocaine | 0.7 | |||||
| heroin | 5 | |||||
| 2008 | 4 | persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior to imprisonment Comment: survey among attendees to the depapartment for diagnostics and programming, who had been convicted and still have more than six months of servitude, regardless on his/hers gender and age (n= 1916) | any illicit drug | 7 | ||
| cocaine | 1 | |||||
| heroin | 6 | |||||
| amphetamines | 0.1 | |||||
| Turkey | 2011 | 1 | persons reporting lifetime injecting drug use prior to imprisonment (Have your evere injected drugs?) Comment: survey "Adult Survey and Evaluation Form" in 10 prisons among random sample of male and female sentenced adult inmates (n= 1125) | any illicit drug | 4 |
Notes:
n.a.: not available.
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.
Sources:
For access to sources and bibliographic references, refer to Table DUP-0.