The Department of Justice has published new regulations which will be signed into law to bring mandatory drug testing into the prison system.
The new rules require inmates suspected of drug abuse to provide in some cases up to four samples for testing.
They also regulate all aspects of prison life including accommodation, visiting rights, discipline, health and education and also set out the duties and responsibilities of prison officers and governors.
However, the Penal Reform Trust says mandatory drug testing will not remove drugs from the prison system.
The rules under which the country's prisons operate date back to 1947 and some provisions are clearly unworkable. At present the rules allow inmates receive their own food and alcohol while in prison awaiting trial. The new laws abolish these provisions.
Punishments such as restricted diets, clamping in irons, corporal punishment and the right of the medical officer to apply any painful test to detect malingering will also be abolished.
However, the rules governing the operation of special observation or padded cells and mandatory drug testing for prisoners are being brought in. Inmates can now be required to provide as many as four samples such as hair, saliva and urine for testing.
The Penal Reform Trust says, however, that mandatory testing will not accomplish what it is intended to do and will not remove drugs from the prison system.
In some cases, it says, prisoners will switch from cannabis to heroin because it is harder to detect in urine samples.
The new rules outline disciplinary sanctions that can be imposed on prisoners. These sanctions range from a reprimand and confinement to a cell for three days through to fines, loss of privileges such as visits and letters or a loss of up to seven days remission of sentence.
The regulations also outlaw as forms of punishment any form of sensory deprivation, deprivation of sleep, food, drink, denial of normal diet, placing a prisoner in a padded cell or one without adequate light, heat or ventilation or any punishment that would constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
Although Michael Mc Dowell intends to sign the rules into law during the summer, he says a lead in time of several months will be required to give an opportunity for prison staff and others to familiarise themselves with the new rules. They will therefore come into force in November.
You can download a copy of the proposals from the Department of Justice's website.
