In this work, Karen Duke explores the conflicts and contradictory pressures in the development of prison drugs policy in Britain from 1980 to the 21st century. Based on interviews with key policy actors and documentary analysis, it explores how policy networks around drug issues in prisons have attempted to contain the contradictions between treatment and punishment and how their activities have been shaped by the ways in which the drugs issue is framed, the roles of research, evidence and knowledge, and the impact of wider social, political, policy and institutional contexts.