There have been 12 drug overdoses at Canberra's jail, internal prison reports show.
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Documents published because of a freedom of information request by The Canberra Times reveal - among other things - the incident reports on prisoners who have overdosed on methadone or other drugs at the Alexander Maconochie Centre, which opened to prisoners in March 2009.
The documents show one prisoner was given medication meant for another inmate with a ''similar name'', while another prisoner was given a double dose of Risperidone, an anti-psychotic medication used to treat schizophrenia and the effects of bipolar disorder.
Four staff, which included a registered nurse and a midwife, were involved in two similar "high-risk" incidents where prisoners were given double doses of methadone.
In both cases, staff admitted they did not follow normal procedures when administering methadone and were consequently directed to undertake two to four weeks' training with the Alcohol and Drugs Program.
All staff later agreed to follow a ''no dosing sheet, no methadone'' policy.
Other incidents include:
- A prisoner drinking an ''undisclosed'' amount of methadone, which had been stored in a pineapple juice box, resulting in an opioid overdose. An ambulance was called to revive the man.
- A prisoner was given another patient's methadone dose which was more than double than the required dose
- Two other overdoses were due to "medication errors". An ACT Health spokeswoman said medication errors were inevitable in health care environments. ''Most health systems, including the ACT's have measures in place to minimise medication errors, but despite their efforts, errors do occur,'' she said.