JAILED ADDICTS TO GET SAFER SYRINGES TO INJECT HEROIN - PAID FOR BY
THE TAXPAYER

Convicts are to receive Government help to ensure they can inject
heroin safely inside jail.

Under the dramatic relaxation of drugs policy, criminals will be given
taxpayer-funded disinfectant tablets to clean their syringes.

The Conservatives said the 'outrageous' decision effectively condoned
drug use by inmates, who are supposed to be given help to quit Class-A
substances.

Theft and robbery to pay for drug addiction is one of the main reason
criminals end up in jail in the first place, they said.

Possession of injecting equipment by prisoners is illegal, but
officials said they had a right to be protected from blood infections.

There will be concern the decision - to be implemented by the Ministry
of Justice later this year - is the start of a Government retreat from
trying to get inmates off drugs. It follows a bruising human rights
defeat in which the Prison Service was ordered to pay UKP750,000 to
nearly 200 drug addicts who experienced withdrawal symptoms after they
were forced to go 'cold turkey'.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: 'This is exactly the wrong
approach and it is outrageous the Government is content to allow it.
Drugs are a scourge on society which fuel much other crime. Prisons
should be places of rehabilitation where prisoners are got off drugs,
not left on them.

'That is why we would strengthen residential and prison drug
rehabilitation places to get people off drugs and start reducing crime.'

It has also emerged that homosexual inmates are to be given access to
gay pornography to ensure that they do not feel discriminated against.

The Prison Service has ruled they should be allowed any type of
explicit 'top shelf' material which can be bought in a high street
newsagent.

The decision was taken after gay inmates complained they were
receiving 'unequal treatment', because heterosexual prisoners are
already allowed pornographic magazines.

Guidance given to governors says the magazines 'should be allowed into
the establishment and that gay/bisexual prisoners should not be
discriminated against'.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said:
'Prisoners should not be allowed any porn - gay or straight - when
they're serving time, and neither should they be provided with drugs
paraphernalia.

'The Human Rights Act has obliterated common sense from our criminal
and legal system. The idea that families and pensioners are paying
higher taxes to fund drug-fuelled, porn sessions for crooks will
offend all right-minded, decent people.'

But Karen Munro, of the Prison Service's briefing and casework unit,
said: 'The possession of injecting equipment is strictly prohibited in
prisons and liable for punishment. Any equipment found is
confiscated.

'It is, however, recognised that blood borne viruses are a serious
public health problem, and are more prevalent in the prison
environment than in the community.

'The Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health are therefore
working to introduce disinfectant tablets in prisons.

'These are a generic cleaning item that can be used to clean shaving
equipment, cutlery, crockery, cell toilets and toothbrushes and may be
used to sterilise illicitly held needles which may be used for
drug-injecting or tattooing.'