A prisoner was paid thousands of pounds in compensation for being forced off hard drugs in an Oxfordshire jail, the Oxford Mail can reveal.

The inmate, at Bullingdon Prison, near Bicester, was given £3,807 last year after his drugs were withdrawn and he was made to go through "cold turkey" detoxification.

The payment stems from legal action brought against the Home Office two years ago by a group of prisoners, mostly heroin addicts, who had been receiving treatment with the substitute drug methadone.

A High Court judge approved payouts for the inmates following claims that the sudden withdrawal of their methadone - and the "difficulties" they endured - breached their human rights.

Payments totalling £750,000 were made to 197 prisoners forced to stop taking drugs at jails across England.

The Bullingdon inmate received his payout in 2006-7, under the so-called opiate dependent prisoner litigation, according to Ministry of Justice figures.

A further £4,585 was paid to three Bullingdon prisoners as compensation for two cases of unlawful detention and an assault on one of the inmates by a member of staff.

Nationally, 461 inmates were paid more than £2m in compensation in 2006-7.

The Tories' shadow justice secretary, Nick Herbert, said: "For the Government to pay compensation is madness. It sends a signal that all addicts in prison deserve to have their drug addiction maintained, paid for by taxpayers, when they should really be getting clean."

But the Government insisted it agreed reluctantly to pay up, to minimise costs to the public. It argued the inmates could have got even more cash had each case been contested.