METHADONE VENDING MACHINES FOR PRISONERS

CONVICTS in Nottingham Prison are able to obtain the heroin substitute
methadone from vending machines, it has emerged.

The machines allow prisoners to receive a personalised dose of
methadone automatically as long as they can provide a fingerprint or
an iris scan to prove their identity.

HMP Nottingham is one of 57 out of 140 jails in the UK that have had
the biometric machines fitted so far as part of a ?4million programme
– with another 13 jails in line to take part in the scheme.

But the project has now led to fears that the system will encourage
drug abuse in prison rather than fight it.

Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve said: "Getting prisoners clean
of drugs is one of the keys to getting them to go straight.

"We need to get prisoners off all drug addiction – not substitute one
dependency for another."

Although methadone has been shown to reduce chronic heroin use, the
drug is less successful at stopping people from taking drugs
altogether. Some continue to use heroin, using methadone as a "top up"
drug.

A spokesman from the DoH pointed out that the department spends around
?240million on offender health each year – with ?40million going on
drug treatment programmes.

He said: "Methadone dispensers are a safe and secure method for
providing a prescribed treatment. They can only be accessed by the
person who has been clinically assessed as needing methadone and that
person is recognised by a biometric marker, such as their iris."

Nottingham South MP Alan Simpson said: "The Tories are living in
fantasy land if they want to deny the scale of drug abuse in prison.

"It's right that the Government does engage with this and offers
people the prospect of getting a substitute for those that are trying
to get off drugs."