The father of a man who died in mysterious circumstances at the Corradino Prisons has been awarded damages of €53,497 after a court established that there had been negligence in the medical care given at the prisons.

The case was instituted in May 1995 by Vincent Chetcuti (and later Jane Agius) against the Director of Prisons and the Minister of Home Affairs following the death of Carlos Chetcuti, aged 25. He had suffered pulmonary oedema compatible with fatal methadone poisoning.

The court was told that doctor Susan Galea had prescribed the prisoner two courses of methadone in December 1994 and February 1995, a day before he passed away.

Three medical experts had subsequently found that:

"The procedures employed in the management of drug prescription and of patients receiving methadone maintenance treatment were poor and ill defined;

"The procedures adopted by Dr Susan Galea appear to have been those which had been followed in the past;

"Prescription records lacked the signature of the prescribing doctor;

"Prescription records do not appear to have been properly maintained;

"Dr Galea had not received proper training in the effects, use and prescription of methadone before she was assigned these duties;

"The apparent over prescription of methadone appears to have been due to bad communication between Dr Galea and the prison staff;

"The prescription of methadone by Dr Galea was partly influenced by urine tests which appear to have been unreliable and Dr Galea was not aware of the significance of these tests;

"The limitations associated with the use of the On Track prescriptive tests do not appear to have been appreciated by those using them and relying on the tests;

"No use or reliance was made of the confirmatory analysis undertaken by the hospital and the resources for this needed to be established."

The judgement was handed down by Mr Justice Philip Sciberras.