Pubdate: Thu, 06 Jun 2002
Source: Rutland Herald (VT)
Copyright: 2002 Rutland Herald
Contact:  http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/892
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

FORMER INMATE SUES STATE OVER METHADONE ISSUE

BURLINGTON (AP) -- A former prison inmate is suing the state for the drug 
withdrawal symptoms he said he endured last year when the Department of 
Corrections refused to give him methadone in jail.

Keith Griggs of Putney was serving a 15-day sentence in the Woodstock jail 
last June for violating the conditions of his furlough for a forgery 
conviction.

Griggs is a recovering heroin addict who had been on methadone for two 
years at the time.

Methadone is a drug used to wean addicts off heroin because methadone 
blocks the painful symptoms of withdrawal. Because methadone is a drug, 
users experience withdrawal if they suddenly stop taking it.

The Department of Corrections refused to give Griggs his methadone, saying 
Vermont law made it illegal for the drug to be dispensed any place other 
than a hospital.

Griggs and his lawyers from the Prisoners' Rights Office took the issue to 
court. A Windsor County Superior Court judge twice ordered the Corrections 
Department to allow Griggs to receive methadone, once on his sixth day in 
jail, and again on his eighth day there.

The order on the eighth day said the state would be fined $1,000 a day for 
each day it denied Griggs his methadone. The next day the state opted to 
release Griggs early rather than give him methadone.

Griggs will return to Superior Court June 12 to argue that the state should 
pay him for causing him to go through an additional day of withdrawal after 
the judge's second ruling.

His lawyers have not said how much money they are seeking. The lawsuit also 
names Corrections Medical Services, the private company that provides 
prison health care, and the prison doctor who treated Griggs.

Corrections Department lawyer Mark DiStefano declined to comment on the 
case before the hearing.
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