A study of injecting behaviour amongst a purposive sample of drug-user
s in Scottish prisons found that 32% reported injecting prior to curre
nt sentence. The percentage of these who were injecting during their c
urrent prison sentence (i.e. inside the prison) had fallen to 11%. Of
those who were injecting prior to imprisonment, 24% reported sharing i
njecting equipment at that time. Of those who were still injecting in
prison, however, 76% reported sharing equipment. Overall, therefore, t
here were fewer injectors in prison, but a higher proportion of these
shared needles. Factors most closely identified with current sharing o
f injecting equipment in prison were: (a) having injected a wider rang
e of drugs in prison (during both current and previous sentences); (b)
frequency of Temgesic use; and (c) being prescribed methadone in the
community, then having that prescription discontinued on entry to pris
on.