The Home Office has settled out of court
 

Re: The Home Office has settled out of court
 

Scandalous but a sad reflection of the times we live in. It's okay though next General Election everyone will run to the polling station and vote for them all to carry on or put a diiferent colour of badge on the stupid laws we have.:mad:

Why don't the Home Office counter sue for board & lodgings payments ?

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Now I could be wrong but I thought they did take it out of any compensation money.

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You might be right. I know there are rules about serving prisoners not profiting from their crime but don't know where this fits in.

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Mmmm, I would have gone to court on this one.

By stopping access to drugs these scrotes would have gone cold turkey, by allowing them access to drug the prison service would be allowing an illegal trade to take place. They should argue that it is not the prison service that is forcing them through cold turkey, it is the lack of an illegal supply chain and so the addicts should by rights be sueing the dealers for not making their addictive substance available to them.

Or we could just give each of them a kilo of pure stuff and let them get on with it, I bet there wouldn't be a problem for long and it would save us a fortune in keeping them in comforttable surroundings :D

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They wouldn't be able to sue dealers because it was actually Methadone which the prisoners were denied. This is a controlled but not illegal prescription only drug and heroin substitute.

It beggars belief that this was settled out of court or even taken seriously in the first place. I'm sure that like smokers, most drug addicts would like to give up. This enforced cold turkey, although not pleasant by any stretch of the imagination, may be the best thing to have happened to these prisoners and IMO I think that they are taking advantage of our compensation culture by trying to cash in.

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surely if they already had prescriptions when they entered then they should continue with them. I can't see diabetics having insulin withdrawn or people taking warfarin?

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It is the greedy lawyers that take advantage of the 'leaky' laws, to line their grubby pocket and milk the public purse. There are far to many of them, some who spend their life soliciting cases such as these.

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Absdolutely ridiculous - if they didn't want their supply cut off they shouldn't have done whatever they did to end up in prison! For them to be allowed to take the home office to court for compensation is a ludicrous situation.

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Exactly - it opens the floodgates doesn't it, as you say Willow it will be interesting to see who tries it on next

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So much for Home Secretary John Reid's tough, new approach. New Labour, same old bull.

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unbelievable. totally gobsmacked.:mad:

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the link to this story is here BBC NEWS | UK | Payments for prison 'cold turkey'

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Not sure what the law is regarding this situation in the UK, so it is a bit hard to comment on what happened in this instance. Perhaps the Home Office settled out of court for the same reasons many defendents settle? Simply put, they may not have liked their chances in front of a jury!

If a prisoner in the US were denied medical treatment for a condition it would not surprise me to see a lawsuit. Forcing someone to go cold turkey, when there are other, kinder medical choices available, is sadistic. As our US Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, it would not surprise me to see folks forced to go cold turkey bringing such a lawsuit. Certainly, forcing them to participate in a drug treatment program is permissable as part of their incarceration, but there are more humane choices than cold turkey.

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Lets see now what have the cons won in court under human rights?

Oh yes heroin/Meths carry on
Slopping out.

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Yes its called the Houses of Parliment State hospital for the Mentally Deficiant.


(apos to any here that are)

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flippin eck they should be thanking them for getting them off the drugs!!! madness I say, madness!!!!!!!!!!! :mad:

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At the end of the day it could only happen in this country, when it comes to the rule of law this country must be the laughing stock of the world.

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Thats why international criminals love this place. Our Septered Isle is now the Septic Isle and will soon be the Gangreen Isle the way things are going. Prison is for punishment not pleasure. Wonder if the home office knows what its doing as these people have now been given a nest egg for drugs when they get out and after its blown will have to start criminal activities to feed it. Brain dead civil servents 0 prison lags 2.

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It will be the drug dealers next sueing the government for loss of earnings whilst their punters have been inside.
Pathetic!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Apparently, prisoners in other European countries like Germany and Sweden do not have the right to this treatment, It seems that they do have here because this wretched government made a ruling in 2002 that prisoners are entitled to the same treatment as ordinary citizens. The end result is that we are going to have shell out around half a million so that those who have robbed, harrassed and attacked us don't suffer too much discomfort. Perhaps, Greg Pope could come on here and explain why this is so. Oh no, sorry, I forgot, New Labour supporters tend to disappear when the questions get awkward.

Re: The Home Office has settled out of court
 

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Maybe I am a cynic but is anyone else expecting jailed alcoholics to go down the same road?

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does that mean that people who are going 'cold turkey' in the workplace through this non-smoking policy can now sue their employers?oooh whats it all coming too

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What about the jailed rapists and paedophiles ?:eek:

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seems like alot of fuss over a bit of cold turkey, I think its quite nice , specially in a sandwich with stuffing on boxing day

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There are two points to consider in this issue:
Whether a prisoner with a drug habit should be forced to go ‘cold turkey’. - NO!
Whether a prisoner forced to undergo ‘cold turkey’ should be compensated for doing so. - YES!

Let me state at the outset that I am 100% in favour of prison sentences being harsh enough to deter all but the most hardened criminal from doing a second spell and preferably them as well. But that prison sentence has to be HUMANE. Denying the prisoners lengthy recreational periods is not INHUMANE nor is hard labour unless it is accompanied by beatings and denial of rest periods and food and drink.

I am also 100% behind a prisoner losing all human rights except those that ensure HUMANE treatment.

The reason for the imprisonment is not the issue. The issue is DRUG ADDICITON whilst in prison.

Prison is to punish and rehabilitate a criminal and not to exact vengeance, although reading many of the replies in this thread, vengeance is in the writers’ heart.

Forcing a prisoner to go ‘cold turkey’ is not a HUMANE act. In fact it borders on sadistic barbarism.

If a criminal enters prison already suffering from a medical condition that prisoner will continue to be medically treated as they were outside. Whether the medical condition is self-inflicted or not is not the issue. Drug addiction is a medical condition. Thus a drug addict awarded a prison sentence should receive treatment for the addiction whilst in prison.

Furthermore, the Governor of the prison that allowed this ‘cold turkey’ procedure to take place, should be brought to account.

Some contributors to this thread have brought into focus, alcoholics and smokers. Alcoholics or smokers are not in the same league as Heroin/Cocaine etc addicts and few commit crimes to fund their habit. In any case prisoners can earn money in prison to enable them to buy tobacco although the same cannot be said for alcohol. However I understand that an alcoholic will get treatment for their condition whilst in prison.

As to the question of compensation:
A prisoner forced to go ‘cold turkey’ is entitled to be compensated because his/her HUMANE rights have been violated.

The amount of compensation is open to debate but I think that the government chickened out in settling out of court with £750,000. They should have offered each ‘cold turkey’ victim £500 and if that was not accepted let the case go to court and let the judicial system decide.

Time to don the steel helmet, flack jacket and climb into an armoured car.

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Evryone has a right to state their opinions Jambutty it will be interesting to read the replies to yours, tin hats all round.

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Well, Jambutty, as Ianto says you have a right to your opinions, but mine couldn't be more different.

As far as I'm concerned, criminals arrive in prison, in most cases, as a result of their own actions. They should, therefore, be prepared to accept the consequences of what follows. OK, provide them with food and basic (very basic) creature comforts, but to expect us to carry on funding their self-inflicted drug habit is a step too far for me. The hardship they will suffer when they go cold turkey is simply part of their punishment and one that they have brought on themselves.

And, yes, I admit to feeling a little bit of vengeance in my heart towards those who have murdered, crippled, assaulted, robbed, raped, terrified and generally harrassed my fellow citizens, In my opinion, the reintroduction of an element of vengeance in the form of longer prison sentences in harsher conditions into the UK justice system would be more than welcome in these "non-judgemental" PC-obsessed times.

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I would suppose that following Jambuttie's usual crackpot logic, most prisoners would now be entitled to a couple of gallons of strong lager as part of their daily medical requirement.

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Ironically prisons are already awash with drugs.

These scum bags should be made to actually pay the prison service if going cold turkey got them clean. There are loads of addicts who haven't broken the law (or been caught) on waiting lists for rehab to go cold turkey.

Perhaps Jambutty thinks that as well as receiving the expensive heroin substitute Methadone, prisoners should be allowed visits from state funded prostitutes, after all their treatment has to be 'humane'?

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It gets even dafter. Next year, as most of you are aware, ciggy smoking in public places will become illegal; no snouts in pubs, restaurants, public buildings, factory floors - in fact, any place with a roof which members of the public might use.
There will, however, be one exception, and that is in Her Majesty's Prisons. An exemption has been made because to deny the prisoners right to smoke is in contravention of what is now UK human right's laws.

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Another exempted place where smoking is allowed are the bars in the Houses of Parliament.

Then all the criminals will be able to smoke together.:mad:

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now thats funny,made me laugh

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Is my logic any less crackpot than yours Tealeaf, in suggesting booze for alcoholics?

You, like garinda, can’t put a proper response together without trying to put words in my mouth.

If both of you actually read and understood what I had written you might have been able to come back with a constructive response and not your usual inane claptrap.

But then I forgot if you two don’t like someone’s opinion that happens to be different to yours, your only response is utter rubbish.

Re: The Home Office has settled out of court
 

Kettle.

Pot.

Black.

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I didn't put any words in your mouth. Quote them if I did.

I read your post.

You believe prisoners who are drug addicted should recieve treatment (which in this case is Methadone.)

You think they should recieve compensation for not bering treated.

I don't. I think that if they come out clean they should be effin' well grateful.

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Was thinking a little on these lines too jackyalex ... dread the thought of ever having to go in hospital, where you can't even smoke in the car park .. that would ensure I would be checking out real quick, and adding to the stress of a quick recovery. Suppose all the non-smokers would have no sympathy though, would they ? .. think my own fault for indulging in such a habit.

As for the prisoners, not sure, does appear to be a little 'torcherous' if they were already trying to seek help .. will read your comments with interest.