The Elusive Goal of Drug-Free Prisons: Detrimental Effects of Enhancing Drug Interdiction

• In Event: Substance Abuse and Treatment: An International Perspective

Abstract

Problems with in-prison management of substance use are typically viewed as problems with offenders and visitors, not as problems with organisational policies. Viewing a correctional system as an organisation reveals how practices and cultures are embedded and resistant to change, even when the organisationally accepted approach (in this case, zero-tolerance policy) is having adverse effects. I use an organisational risk management lens to examine the enhanced drug interdiction response of a federal prison agency, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). My analysis of interview data, CSC documents, and relevant public testimony offers five detrimental effects reportedly connected to strict in-prison enforcement: continued efforts by offenders to bring substances into prisons; climates of tensions and violence; offenders switching types of substances; health-related harms; and a culture of distrusting visitors. I offer divergent framings of these issues. Traditional organisational strategies are adhered to in the making of policy and practice recommendations, instead of challenging the status quo.

Author

• Tara Marie Watson, University of Toronto