ionnsaigh wrote:I feel we have certain duties in civilised society- one is a duty of care, particularly in prison. The service has a commitment to care for prisoners- regardless of their crime. You cant see a person purely as a criminal-it is entirely inappropriate to broad brush any person in an negative fashion-their condition isn't them,( its they the person) that have the condition- not the other way round. Addiction is a common condition amongst all Mammals. To ignore this disease and its dreadful consequences of total withdrawal, are in my opinion tantamount to abuse. Do you really think that the Government would have settled out of court if it hadn't recognised that to impose cold turkey without consent violates Human rights- of course they wouldn't . Cold Turkey is an extremely dangerous form of rehabilitation-added to the Psychological impact of involuntary withdrawal. As a result of Draconian attitudes by some in the prison service the cost of counseling etc etc will be a larger drain on the public purse. We shouldn't let our personal bias cloud or judgement however repugnant we find some things to be. In other words these same officials who allowed this state sanctioned- what after all amounts to torture- should ultimately be tried for Human Rights violations and be dismissed from the service.
My heart bleeds for them.
This is a self inflicted condition, not a disease that one can contract involuntarily. In any case, I thought that drug abuse was an illegal activity in this country, so the British Government is paying out
our money because these people have been prevented from carrying out an illegal activity. Does this make sense?
How many alcoholics are locked up in this country? Should we provide a free bar for all prisoners? Haud me back!!!!
If you can't do the time don't do the crime.
Ionnsaigh, sometimes I can see an underlying logic in your philosophies, but in this case your views just appear to be perverse, and backing up what you perceive to be the underdog, no matter what situation they find themselves in, self-inflicted or not.