A PIONEERING approach which has weaned hundreds of inmates off hard drugs at a North-East prison is proving such a success that it could now be copied by jails across the country.

A total of 568 inmates in Durham Prison have used the Substance Misuse Service since it was launched in February, out of a population of more than 700.

But campaigners last night warned that the only effective way to cut drug-related crime is by establishing similar rehabilitation and detoxification centres in the community.

It is the first time in the UK that a fully-staffed NHS detoxification unit has been set up within a prison.

Dr Brian Docherty, a GP who has been associated with Durham Prison for 30 years, described it as "the most impressive development in prison medicine in years".

Rather than relying on a handful of doctors and nurses to provide detoxification services for the maximum security prison, the task force - jointly run by the prison service and County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust - is headed by a consultant.

It is backed up by a staff grade doctor, two specialist community psychiatric nurses and half a dozen specially-trained prison officers.

Durham Prison, where an estimated 70 per cent of inmates have alcohol or drug problems, is so pleased that it has agreed to fund another member of staff.

News of the success follows a report into the Government's Street Crime Initiative which, while reducing street crime, was criticised as a "missed opportunity".

The most recent figures showed the overall rate in the ten pilot areas was cut by 17 per cent in the first year - a reduction of about 17,000 fewer victims of robbery.

But inspectors found "insufficient focus on breaking the cycle of offending" and claims that drug addict street robbers were receiving treatment within 24 hours of release from custody were rejected.

The report said that most were given appointments two or three months away and the delays were "fundamentally counter-productive".

The Durham Prison project was welcomed by former heroin and crack addict Leeanne Saunders from Stockton, who has been to prison eight times before going straight.

The 21-year-old, now a trainee support worker for Parents and Addicts Against Drugs in Communities (PANIC) on Teesside, said: "This sounds brilliant but we need more rehabilitation and detoxification facilities in the community when people are released.

"When I came out there was nothing. Drug users who get into trouble with the law need to be helped on the spot or the next day, not put on a waiting list for weeks."

National expert, Dr Patrick Keavney, who chairs the British Medical Association's civil service committee, also criticised the lack of support for offenders in the community.

He said: "We manage to get four out of five people off drugs inside jail but can't we maintain that in the community.

"We need more services on the estates where people live and we need to give them jobs rather than benefits."

Tina Williams, project manager at PANIC, wants residential rehabilitation for offenders not jailed, and the opportunity for them to learn new skills and find work.

She said: "A lot of people with addiction are put back among friends and acquaintances who are still using, and even if they have good intentions it can be all too easy to drift back into it."