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Prison authorities breached Article 3

01 May 2003

The European Court of Human Rights concluded that the prison authorities treatment of Judith McGlinchey contravened the prohibition against inhuman and degrading treatment contained in Article 3 of the Convention. After having been convicted of theft, Judith McGlinchey was sentenced on 7 December 1998 to four months imprisonment. On 10 December 1998 Judith called her mother to say that she was receiving no help to cope with withdrawal from heroin and could not stop vomiting. On 12 December she was still vomiting and suffered from diarrhoea and abdominal pains. On 14 December she collapsed and according to prison staff, "appeared to be having a fit." She suffered a cardiac arrest, liver and kidney failure and was placed on a ventilator. She died on 3 January 1999. The Court ruled that in failing to monitor and treat her withdrawal, the UK had violated Article 3 of the European Convention on human rights, the ban on inhuman and degrading treatment, and that the lack of a route for compensation for her mother and children under UK law violated Article 13 of the European convention, the right to effective remedy.

Guardian 30.4.03.