Prison: shield from threat, or threat to survival?

In the short term, to address the failure to control heroin misuse in prisons, the absence of coherent drug dependency treatment programmes, and the imminent threat to the public health, we are calling for inquiries by the Home Affairs Select Committee, Her Majesty's Inspector of Prisons, the Chief Medical Officer, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the General Medical Council, and the Public Health Laboratory Service. [...]we advocate that past patients of the prison medical service who identify themselves as having suffered abuse in this way consult their legal representatives not only to seek legal redress but also to collate evidence for the General Medical Council.