Subj: Scotland: Supremo to purge jails of dealers and addicts



Date: 18 Oct, 1998



Source: Scotland on Sunday







Supremo to purge jails of dealers and addicts



A DRUGS supremo is to be appointed to try to rid Scotland's 

jails of dealers and addicts as part of a new zero tolerance 

drive against drug barons, writes James Murray.



Home Affairs Minister Henry McLeish will announce the move 

tomorrow when he sees the latest anti-drugs measures being 

tested at high-security Shotts prison, neat Airdrie.



The new appointee will be responsible for introducing 

tougher policies in the country's 22 prisons. It is the 

first time such a role has been created in the UK. At least 

1,500 of Scotland's 6,000 prisoners are thought to be 

regular drug users, with many taking heroin. Criminals are 

also running major drugs cartels from behind bars in some 

jails.



McLeish said: "Prisoners' families are being threatened and, 

in some cases, blackmailed to take drugs into prisons. It is 

vital we act now to crack down hard on the abuses."