European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)

This evidence-based guidance aims to support the planning and implementation of effective programmes to prevent and control the transmission of infectious diseases in prison settings in the European region. It focuses on three high-burden blood-borne viruses (BBV) in the prison population, namely hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodefciency virus (HIV).

This report looks at the use of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in prison settings. This is a rapidly developing phenomenon, but empirical data are currently scarce and patchy. There is growing evidence that NPS are responsible for a large share of drug-related problems in some European prisons and appropriate responses are mostly lacking.

What are the most (cost-) effective ways to prevent and control communicable diseases in prison settings? In their joint public health Guidance, ECDC and the EMCDDA, present the evidence on active case finding as a key measure to diagnose communicable diseases early. The two agencies advise to actively offer testing for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV to all people in prison and to conduct universal testing for tuberculosis at prison entry.

The report presents a review of tools for monitoring illicit drug use in prison populations in Europe. The objective of the report is to describe the existing tools used at national level, to assess their comparability and to build a common European basis for data collection on drug use and prison.

The EMCDDA has established a general framework for collecting information on drug use related problems and on interventions targeting drug use among prisoners.