The importance of drug-screening in prisoners who are guaranteed a temporary release

Permitting prisoners to leave the prison for a certain time is one basic el ement of rehabilitation. As a rule, the inmate is not allowed to leave the prison before a psychologist or psychiatrist is consulted. A considerable n umber of criminals have committed crimes under the influence of addictive d rugs. Many of them continue to indulge in drug abuse even in prison. Theref ore, a special programme was introduced in the prison of Graz-Karlau in Aus tria. In the course of this programme, inmates who are about to leave priso n are made to undergo a urinarlysis with immunological methods. In 1997, po sitive results were registered in 95 of 678 tested prisoners. Thus, this method is an effective means of determining whether prisoners ma y be granted a temporary release. Persons with a positive urine test may be refused permission. At the same time, every inmate with a positive test ma y avail himself of an appropriate treatment programme.