Prescriptions for a vaccine to treat diabetes have been given to almost 400 prisoners this year after numbers of type 2 diabetes doubled in four years, according to new figures.
The total number of 396 was down from years before, with 575 Ozempic jabs given to prisoners in 2023 and 448 in 2022.
However, numbers were a lot higher than in 2019, when 36 prescriptions were handed across the prison estate, the Times reports.
Ozempic costs the NHS a flat rate of £73.25 per standard prescription.
Overall, 1,770 prescriptions were given to prisoners in the past five years, costing the health service £129,652.50.
Data has also shown that 16,155 prisoners, around 18 per cent of the total prison population, were detected as having type 2 diabetes this year.
This is compared with 7,613 prisoners (9.5 per cent) in 2020.
The percentage of inmates over the age of 35 who have type 2 diabetes doubled across all age groups between 2020 and 2024.
Overall, 1,770 prescriptions were given to prisoners in the past five years, costing the health service £129,652.50. Picture: HMP High Down, Sutton
Data has also shown that 16,155 prisoners, around 18 per cent of the total prison population, were detected as having type 2 diabetes this year
There has also been a surge of 135 per cent involving over the over-75s, with a large increase of almost 135 per cent among 45 to 54-year-olds.
The only age group which saw a decrease in the condition was the 18-24 year olds with 155 prisoners in this group being diabetic, compared to 37 this year.
The number of diabetic people locked up varies by prison across the country.
Although 17 prisons saw a drop in the number of people with the condition, 102 prisons saw an increase.
HMP Haverigg, an open prison for male inmates in Cumbria, recorded the largest increase in its number of diabetic inmates rising by 27 per cent, going from 22 prisoners in 2020 to 135 prisoners this year.
A report published in March by the Independent Monitoring Board about the prison mentioned prisoners had raised concerns about the quality, quantity and calorific content of food, with 21 complaints made in June last year.
It said complaints dropped after ‘healthcare, chaplaincy, dieticians and the Vegan Society’ worked with the catering manager to address concerns with the menu.
Lucy Vincent, chief executive of Food Behind Bars, started working to improve prison food quality after reading a report about prison food in 2016.
HMP Haverigg, an open prison for male inmates in Cumbria, recorded the largest increase in its number of diabetic inmates rising by 27 per cent
It found that ‘too often the quantity and quality of the food provided is insufficient and the conditions in which it is served and eaten undermine respect for prisoners’ dignity’.
In one instance, an inmate said she had left the establishment three stone heavier than when she began her sentence and had taken to stealing tomato seeds from her food to plant in her cell.
All prison food across England and Wales is provided in one large contract by a single supplier.
Ms Vincent added: ‘There’s lots of pre-processed, ultra-processed, pre-made-type items that are being sourced and produced specifically for the prison service.’
Although a wide variety of products is available, she added some of the healthier options were often too expensive and governors were ‘effectively pushed towards the slightly cheaper, worse-quality products’.
Prisons serve three meals a day to each prisoner on a budget of £3 per head, with the menu being drawn up by a catering manager and varying between prisons.
Although the government requires prison meals to be in line with NHS carolie targets, she said there were no real monitoring.
A University of Oxford study found that the approximate cost of a healthy diet, according to the NHS, was £7.48 per person, more than double the daily food budget in prisons.
A sample lunch menu from HMP Eastwood Park (women’s closed category prison) last year included cottage pie and gravy; sweet potato and cashew nut curry; battered turkey steak with BBQ sauce; pork sausage roll with sweetcorn and beetroot salad; sliced cheese and onion baguette meal; herby steamed potatoes; steamed rice; mixed vegetables; fruit and biscuit of the day being choc ice.
