Court rejects condom bid
A mental patient using legal aid today failed in a High Court bid to overturn what he claimed was a blanket ban on condoms at Ashworth high security hospital.
The man, who cannot be identified and was referred to in court as "H", has a sexually-transmitted disease. He did not dispute the "no sex" rule at the hospital, which houses many serious offenders, but argued the authorities cannot in reality enforce it.
His lawyers claimed the ban on condoms puts patients' health and lives at risk from unprotected sex, and breaches their fundamental human rights.
But Mr Justice Bellamy dismissed the patient's call for a judicial review, saying there was nothing irrational about the hospital's policy on condoms.
He rejected claims that the policy was enforced with "a closed mind".
The patient was refused leave to appeal.
