PAYOUTS FOR PRISON DRUG ADDICTS

Up to 198 inmates could get compensation for being forced to go
through withdrawal too quickly, our correspondent writes

PRISONERS are to get undisclosed compensation payouts from the Home
Office because they were forced to stop taking drugs in jail.

The drugs charity DrugScope said that the group of six inmates and
former inmates who used heroin and other opiates were on the verge of
settling out of court with the Prison Service.

The case, alleging that the "cold turkey" withdrawal treatment they
were forced to undergo amounted to assault, was scheduled to start at
the High Court today.

The size of the payouts under discussion has not been revealed, but
the compensation levels are due to be finalised tomorrow or on
Wednesday, legal sources said.

Mr Justice Langstaff gave the go-ahead in the High Court in May for a
full hearing of the case. It focused on six test cases chosen from a
pool of 198 claimants.

When finally resolved this week, all 198 may be handed compensation
by the Prison Service, with sums running potentially into tens of
thousands of pounds.

Mr Justice Langstaff said in May: "The claimants complain that they
entered these prisons in a state of addiction. All claim that their
treatment was handled inappropriately and so they suffered injuries
and had difficulties with withdrawal."

The barrister for the claimants, Richard Hermer, told the court at
the time: "Many of the prisoners were receiving methadone treatment
before they entered prison and were upset at the short period of
treatment using opiates they encountered in jail. Imposing the short,
sharp detoxification is the issue."

The prisoners were bringing the action based on trespass, because
they say they did not consent to the treatment, and for alleged
clinical negligence.

They also claimed human rights breaches under Articles 3 and 14 of
the European Convention on Human Rights, which ban discrimination,
torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and Article
8, which enshrines the right to respect for private life.

A Home Office spokeswoman declined to react to the charity's claim
that there would be an out-of-court settlement.

Drugscope claims that treatment in jails has suffered cuts in the
wake of the NHS budget crisis. A key project to get prisoners off
drugs, the Integrated Drug Treatment System (IDTS), has had this
year's proposed budget cut by 60 per cent from UKP40 million to UKP12
million, the charity claimed.

The charity's chief executive, Martin Barnes, said: "A major plank of
the Government's drug strategy is the reduction of drug-related crime
through effective treatment for drug-misusing offenders.

"For many of the estimated 39,000 drug-using prisoners, prison can
offer an opportunity to start the treatment journey.These cuts in
spending jeopardise the future of effective prison drug treatment at
a time when Home Office figures show reoffending rates are on the rise."

He added: "A failure to tackle drug dependency among offenders risks
repeating the cycle of drug use and crime."

The charity said that the funding allocation meant the IDTS would go
ahead in just 12 per cent of prisons in England and Wales.