Harm and risk reduction in Spanish prisons

Fundación Atenea’s experience in the approach to drug use in prisons entail some difficulties and
challenges when attempting to incorporate the paradigm of risk assessment and harm reduction
in a closed institution such as penitentiary centers. Consumption of illegal druges in prison
populations exceed that of the general population. It has been proved that there is a significant
correlation between crime and drug use. Accompanying people from a harm reduction approach
necessarily involves contextualizing intervention and considering all the conditions that surround
drug use and abuse in prison in our intervention. Some methodological elements have been
developed in order to improve the living conditions of people in prison and outside, beyond
consumption itself. This is all undertaken without losing sight of the objective of improving the
social and health conditions of the inmates and offering alternatives for better social reintegration
after serving their sentence.