Section Three The second year – activities and key issues by type of detention the safety of prisoners being held. It found the availability and use of drugs in prisons to be high, despite some prisons making efforts to tackle both the supply of and demand for drugs. In one prison, almost a fifth of prisoners told HMIP that they had developed a drug problem while incarcerated. Many incidents of violence in the same prison were drug-related. It is essential that prisons reduce the supply of drugs in their establishments, but also that they reduce demand. HMIP was encouraged by the continuing development of an integrated drug treatment system but was also concerned that some prisoners are maintained on opiate substitutes without the regular reviews necessary to reduce and end drug dependence. HMIP also found that staff–prisoner relationships had improved, with prisoners increasingly being treated with respect for their human dignity. Most prisoners said that they were treated with respect by staff and had a member of staff they could turn to if they had a problem. However, prisoners from minority groups did not report so positively. Muslim prisoners in particular, who made up 10% of the prisoners surveyed by HMIP, had consistently more negative perceptions than the prison population as a whole. A thematic review of Muslim prisoners by HMIP warned that a sole emphasis on combating extremism, combined with wider media portrayals of Islam, encouraged staff to associate all Muslim prisoners with terrorism.12 The treatment of older prisoners and those with disabilities also needed to improve. HMIP noted improvements in prison health care but the care of prisoners with mental health problems remained an issue. It found that prison staff needed more help to identify and meet the needs of prisoners with mental disorder and learning disabilities. Too many offenders with acute mental health needs were being held in prison instead of being diverted from the criminal justice system. While the quantity and quality of purposeful activity in prisons in England and Wales had improved, further improvement was still required. Too often, work and education opportunities were not taken up and too many prisoners spent time locked in their cells during the day. Similarly, HMIP found that there was much to do in improving resettlement provision, including facilitating prisoners’ contact with their families. It noted that it is often the families of prisoners who support prisoners while they are incarcerated, find them a job when they are released, house them and encourage them to stay out of trouble, and recommended that more is done to involve families in the resettlement process. This year, HMIP inspected three women’s prisons and published a thematic report on women in prison.13 It found that the decision to reduce the number of women’s prisons had meant that the remaining closed women’s prisons were now more complex, and that more women were being held further from their homes. It noted that outcomes for women were much better in open or semi-open conditions. There had been improvements in most women’s prisons, particularly in regard to safety, owing to the better treatment and management of women with substance use problems. 12 HMIP, Muslim prisoners’ experiences ( June 2010). 13 HMIP, Women in prison ( July 2010). 19