Prisoners sue for drug withdrawal 'pain'

A group of about 40 prisoners are preparing to sue

Heroin addicts who were refused methadone in prison are to sue the government for thousands of pounds in compensation.

Around 40 current and former prisoners have been granted Legal Aid to take their case to court, their lawyers told BBC News Online.

The men and women will be seeking around £1,500 each for their "pain and suffering" as they came off heroin in jail.

They argue they were given no medical help with their withdrawal symptoms, or if they were, it was not for long enough.

'Humanitarian'

Solicitor Neil Fearn, of Ison Harrison and Co, said many of those involved had already been on a programme of drug control with their GPs, or to drug addiction clinics before they were imprisoned.

Without the methadone they suffered withdrawal symptoms and, by the time they saw a prison doctor, two to three weeks later, it was all over, he said.

Mr Fearn argued that while the inmates may have ended up off the drugs, the withdrawal "should have been offered to them in a humanitarian way".

"The Home Office is not applying its own health care standards," he said.

Guidelines

The Home Office has said it will contest the prisoners' claim.

A spokesman said it had guidelines for "people who are drug addicts to be detoxified".

A spokesman confirmed the group, who are from all over the UK, had been awarded a litigation order allowing them to proceed with the action.

"We are aware that the law firm Ison Harrison represents a number of former and current prisoners who claim they were inappropriately detoxified whilst in prison." he said.