{"id":5843,"date":"2010-02-03T21:16:11","date_gmt":"2010-02-03T21:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=5843"},"modified":"2010-02-04T10:58:44","modified_gmt":"2010-02-04T10:58:44","slug":"drug-addicts-get-cold-turkey-compensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2010\/02\/drug-addicts-get-cold-turkey-compensation\/","title":{"rendered":"Drug addicts get cold turkey compensation"},"content":{"rendered":"

THOUSANDS of pounds is being paid out in compensation to drug addict prisoners being forced to go cold turkey in Welsh jails, a Wales on Sunday investigation has revealed.
\nWhile many victims of crime receive paltry sums in compensation after the turmoil they have been through, the Prison Service is being forced to pay out to jailbirds having to go without drugs. It followed claims the practice amounts to assault and a breach of human rights.
\nAlmost \u00a311,500 was paid out to three drug addicts in Cardiff and Parc prisons in the past year alone.The sum paid to addicts was part of more than \u00a350,000 paid out in compensation to prisoners in Welsh jails last year for a number of reasons.
\nThe Ministry of Justice said they had to settle a number of compensation claims for prisoners due to \u201cthe way they went through detox\u201d. But the payouts have been fiercely criticised, with one MP describing it as \u201ca lose-lose situation for the taxpayer\u201d.
\nThe settlements originate from a test case two years ago when six claimants from across Wales and England were given the green light to sue the Home Office They said once in jail, and under the responsibility of the Prison Service in England and Wales, they were made to go cold turkey \u2013 where drugs are withdrawn or cut short.
\nOur probe comes amid increasing evidence convicts are exploiting human rights laws to make a profit from their time in jail. The figures were finally released after Wales on Sunday complained to the National Offender Management Service following seven months of heel-dragging by officials.
\nConservative MP David Davies said: \u201cNot only are they getting compensation, they are being funded by the taxpayer to put these claims in. It\u2019s a lose-lose situation for the taxpayer. \u201cCold turkey is not all it\u2019s cracked up to be. People seem to have got their ideas from Trainspotting.
\n\u201cActually, most informed medical opinion says taking alcohol away from an alcoholic can be a far more difficult experience for them. \u201cI\u2019ve got no sympathy for them, I\u2019m afraid. Nobody forces them to get into crack in the first place.\u201d
\nPeter Stoker, Director of the National Drug Prevention Alliance, said he thought lawyers were taking advantage of the system and big changes needed to be made. Prisoners should \u201cabsolutely\u201d not be able to get drugs in jail, he added. He said: \u201cThey\u2019ve been put up to it. There are a lot of liberal lawyers and organisations around and this is the kind of thing that they will come up with.
\n\u201cMy gut feeling is like a lot of people\u2019s gut feeling, that I think there has to be a question as to what extent somebody who is convicted has foregone many of their human rights by committing the crimes they did in the first place. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything wrong with trying to wean prisoners off drugs as soon as possible. \u201cI find it as wacky as the general public do. All I can say is I think it\u2019s now generating enough concern that it\u2019s time the Government and the Prison Service looked at it again.\u201d
\nBut the charity Drugscope defended the practice, saying the Prison Service had a \u201cduty of care\u201d to prisoners with a drug addiction. Chief Executive Martin Barnes said: \u201cIt is clearly established in law that prisoners are entitled to the same standard of health care that they would receive in the community; the medical care received by claimants under the original action had fallen well below acceptable standards. After seeking legal advice, the Home Office accepted full liability in all the cases. \u201cIt is clear, however, that short, sharp, enforced detoxification is still the experience for many entering prison, even for those who were in receipt of a prescribed substitute drug such as methadone prior to custody. \u201cNot only can enforced detoxification be extremely unpleasant, it does not mean that someone will remain free of drugs or their dependency.\u201d
\nThe Ministry of Justice said: \u201cEach compensation claim received by the Prison Service is treated on its individual merits. Legal advice is sought and, on the basis of that advice, a decision is made on whether or not the claim should be defended. \u201cWe cannot therefore comment on individual cases or the reasons that they were settled, as the terms of each settlement vary and may be subject to confidentiality clauses.\u201d
\n Source: Wales On Sunday : Jan 20 2008<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THOUSANDS of pounds is being paid out in compensation to drug addict prisoners being forced to go cold turkey in Welsh jails, a Wales on Sunday investigation has revealed. While many victims of crime receive paltry sums in compensation after the turmoil they have been through, the Prison Service is being forced to pay out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-sector"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5843\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}