United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Presented in six separate booklets, the World Drug Report 2020 provides a wealth of information and analysis to support the international community in implementing operational recommendations on a number of commitments made by Member States, including the recommendations contained in the outcome document of the special session of the General Assembly on the world drug problem, held in 2016.

This publication is intended to serve as an introductory reference, outlining the options available to States that are in line with the international drug control conventions and other relevant international instruments. The focus of the publication is on practical information for policymakers and justice, health and other practitioners to identify the scope of the problem in their community, resources that can be used to address it, gaps that need to be filled and practical approaches for moving forward.

The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMRs) constitute the universally acknowledged minimum standards for the management of prison facilities and the treatment of prisoners, and have been of tremendous value and influence in the development of prison laws, policies and practices in Member States all over the world.

This paper is designed to support countries in mounting an effective response to HIV and AIDS in prisons and other closed settings.

The statement is part of a set of documents produced by UNODC, WHO and UNAIDS aimed at providing evidence-based information and guidance to countries on HIV prevention, treatment, care and support in places of detention.

This toolkit on HIV in prisons aims to provide information and guidance primarily to individuals and institutions with responsibilities for prisons and prisoners, and to people who work in and with prisons.

Prisons are high-risk settings for the transmission of HIV. However, HIV prevention, treatment, care and support programmes are not adequately developed and implemented to respond to HIV in prisons. Moreover, prison settings do not usually address gender-specific needs. Both drug use and HIV infection are more prevalent among women in prison than among imprisoned men. Women in prison are vulnerable to gender-based sexual violence; they may engage in risky behaviours and practices such as unsafe tattooing, injecting drug use, and, are more susceptible to self-harm.

This guide on opiate substitution therapy in prisons is to support prison doctors, contracted doctors, prison health care workers, prison administration, NGOs and others in delivering or supporting substitution treatment to opioid dependent prisoners.