Drug Addicts Released From Prison in the UK Likely to Sin Again

Drug addicts who are released back into the community after serving prison time seem to be a menace to society. According to an Express and Star report, Home Office figures reveal that Class A drug addicts released into the community in parts of the West Midlands are going to commit three offenses – on average – in the first year after leaving jail.

A report focused on such activities found that 674 crimes were committed by a sample of 226 known users in Walsall in 2008 and another 666 offenses were recorded by 218 in Wolverhampton.

In Dudley, the same average continued as 552 offenses were carried out by a group of 173. In Staffordshire, roughly 113 addicts carried out 345 offenses. In Worcestershire, 46 drug users committed 147 crimes.

For those drug users released in Sandwell, they went on to commit an average of two offenses each during the same period. This figure easily compared with Birmingham where officials recorded 1, 670 fresh offenses by 874 drug users.

The figures are worse in Shropshire, where an average of four crimes were committed by the 52 released from prison. These individuals went on to commit 227 offenses in all. Across England and Wales, figures show that 61 percent of convicted criminals commit at least one offense in the first 12 months of release.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: “One of the huge failures of our criminal justice system is the way in which we send drug addicts to prison and completely fail to do anything about their addiction.”

A Home Office spokeswoman added: “Drug-misusing offenders are among the hardest to reach and most problematic drug users. Tackling their offending and drug misuse is a complex issue which requires continued effort.”