Comment: Rewards for drug addicts but victims are ignored

11:50am Monday 21st April 2008

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Drug addicts forced to go "cold turkey" after they were denied illegal substances in prison were awarded thousands of pounds in compensation, it emerged last week. Yet their victims have to repair their lives with little, if any, recompense themselves.

RACHEL WAREING talks to two people who have fallen victim to drug addicts and had their lives turned upside down by the experience.

When heroin addict Christopher Bryan smashed his way into the home of Hastings mayor Maureen Charlesworth, he took more than her treasured possessions.

The loss of her jewellery, much of it gifts from her late husband, was bad enough.

But what has been equally painful is the loss of her peace of mind.

Councillor Charlesworth said: "I still can't sleep at night without keeping the light in the hallway light on. I've got double padlocks on the doors and have installed two burglar alarms. It's cost me a fortune.

"He invaded my privacy, my home. I no longer feel safe and secure like I used to be."

Bryan returned to Coun Charlesworth's home three times in total. He first slipped into the house and took her handbag while she was in another room, then returned six days later to steal her jewellery and car.

He was eventually caught when he knocked on her door a third time and asked for someone she'd never heard of. Suspicious, she called the police, who recognised his description and visited his home to find a man's wallet containing Coun Charlesworth's Tesco clubcard.

Bryan, from Chiltern Drive, Hastings, admitted the break-in and asked for 22 other crimes to be taken into consideration. He was jailed for five years in November.

His barrister told the court he was a drug addict who had committed the offences out of "pure desperation".

Bryan never apologised to Mrs Charlesworth and she has not received a penny in compensation.

So it may not be surprising she feels so appalled that convicted criminals should be compensated for being made to go cold turkey while in jail, especially not on the basis that the experience breached their human rights.

She said: "What about the rights of the people they harm? It is unbelievable. If someone is in prison for committing a crime they deserve to go cold turkey. It serves them right."

The three inmates at Lewes Prison, who each received £3,807, were among 197 prisoners in England and Wales to receive compensation relating to drug withdrawal.

The payments stem from legal action brought against the Home Office two years ago by six prisoners.

They said they suffered injuries as a result of their withdrawal and based their case on trespass, as they claimed they did not give consent to the treatment, and also for clinical negligence.

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

According to the Ministry of Justice, these prisoners were offered treatment for their substance misuse but the drugs given to control their withdrawal symptoms were given in inappropriate doses and the duration of treatment was too short and not properly monitored.

A spokeswoman from the Ministry of Justice told The Argus that the Government has a "common law duty" to look after prisoners, "which includes ensuring they have access to adequate medical treatment".

The treatment available to addicts varies from prison to prison and the Ministry of Justice refused to tell The Argus what is offered at Lewes.

However, one nurse, who works with substance misusers and did agree to speak to The Argus, said prisoners are usually offered a synthetic opiate substitute, such as methadone or buprenorphine, which also works by blocking the effects of the addictive part of the drugs.

These substitutes reduce the risks to the user's health, keep them stabilised and prevent withdrawal symptoms. Where prisoners are in for a longer sentence, the dose is steadily reduced so they can eventually be weaned off the drug.

So how much would the addicts who suddenly had their methadone withdrawn have suffered?

Anyone withdrawing from an opiate, whether street heroin or a prescribed substitute, can expect flu-like symptoms, diarrhoea, vomiting and pain deep in their bones.

They will feel, in the words of the nurse we spoke to, "absolutely grotty".

It is not in itself a life or death situation, however.

Unlike alcoholics, who can suffer fatal seizures and heart failure while drying out, people coming off heroin do not die from it.

Doctors can also prescribe a range of medication to relieve the symptoms.

It is not known what the compensated prisoners were offered, nor what other medical complications they might have had.

Heroin is widely available in prisons, albeit at a higher price, and it may be that the sudden withdrawal pushed the prisoners back into the arms of dealers.

Perhaps if they were strong enough to withstand the withdrawal, they stayed clean - the outcome you would hope for in a drug treatment programme.

We can only speculate on these details, and on precisely how their human rights were breached, because the Ministry of Justice will not disclose details of individual cases for "confidentiality" reasons.

One man who could justly argue his human rights have been breached is a Brighton security guard called Mark.

Mark works for Sassco, the Brighton firm which provides security for shops in the North Laine and the Lanes, and regularly encounters drug-addicted shoplifters.

A report into shoplifting by Brighton and Hove Drug and Alcohol Action in 2005 found 84% of prolific offenders were heroin addicts, and in Mark's experience they are the most aggressive and unpredictable suspects to deal with.

They know that if they are caught they will not get their next hit, so they will try to get away by any means possible.

Last week, he had to undergo tests for HIV and hepatitis after he was spat at and scratched. One of Mark's colleagues was recently stabbed with a needle as he tackled a thief and is waiting to hear whether he has contracted HIV or hepatitis.

It is a difficult and dangerous job, but Mark still has sympathy for those in the grip of addiction.

He said: "We used to provide security for a drug addiction clinic where methadone was dispensed and once they had completed their transaction there was no further stress from them. They have a desperate problem. I can see they are creating chaos, but methadone is their route to coming off drugs.

"If their intention is to withdraw and come off the drug, it's not a good idea to make them go cold turkey."

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