A WINCHESTER Prison inmate was shackled as he lay dying in hospital, an inquest heard.

A prison welfare charity has backed a coroner's concerns that his parents were only told of their son's illness as he lay chained to his death bed.

The Howard League for Penal Reform has spoken after the jail came under fire at an inquest last Thursday into the death of Thomas Dance, 22, who died as a result of complications from a bacterial disease.

Grahame Short, senior coroner for central Hampshire, said: “I don't believe that it was fair to the family to have to wait some six hours before they were notified by prison staff that their son was critically ill in hospital.

“I would ask that the staff at Winchester do take steps to review their policy and I will be taking note if there's any repetition of the events that we have heard happened in this case. To lose a son in these circumstances must have been devastating and they have my deepest sympathy.”

When his parents visited him, Mr Dance was chained to the bed and guarded by two prison officers as he lay in a coma, the inquest heard.

Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said in response to the verdict: “We do not support the practice of shackling critically-ill people in hospital, simply because they have been serving a prison sentence.

“The coroner in this distressing case is right to emphasise the need for prisons to keep families informed at every stage of someone's medical treatment, particularly when the illness is so serious.”

In a statement read during the hearing, his father James Dance, from Purbrook, Portsmouth, said his son developed a drug problem after falling in with a bad crowd when he was 15.He said he was “disgusted” by the way his son was treated while he lay on what was to become his death bed.“He was really poorly,” he said. “I was disgusted by the prison officer sitting by his bed in intensive care. What could Tom do lying seriously ill? I wanted him to be treated humanely and respect given to us as a family.”

Mr Dance's mother, Tina Dance, of Durley Hall Lane, Durley, in a statement, said: “He was conscious and chained to the bed. I just found the whole situation really unnecessary because he could barely breathe let alone move.”

The inquest heard Mr Dance was pronounced dead at Royal Hampshire County Hospital on November 25, four days after being admitted.

Home Office forensic pathologist, Dr Russell Delaney, said he had suffered multi organ failure after contracting endocarditis - a type of infection of the heart. It is believed it developed as a result of intravenous drug use.

The hearing was told Mr Dance had battled substance abuse for years, even “snowballing” - taking a mixture of crack cocaine and heroin - the day before he went to prison.

Head of healthcare at the jail, Gillian Hunter, said since Tom's death protocol for keeping prisoners shackled while in hospital was under national review.

The change is due for imminent roll-out, she said. “That policy is currently under review, nationally it is changing.”

Mr Short also said he found “gaps” in the care Mr Dance received during his 20 days in prison before he was transferred to A&E.

“Significantly I think we now know that on November 11 he was recorded as having a raised temperature and on the same day was too ill to see one of the psychiatric team. I think it shows a gap in the system whereby it was not recorded on his main medical notes but I'm not persuaded that would have made any difference to the main outcome,” he said.

Mr Short recorded a verdict of natural death.

In their Learning Lessons bulletin issued February 2013, Nigel Newcomen of the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, said: “Investigations have identified a more planned approach to managing terminal illness, with more prisoners receiving palliative care equivalent to that provided in the community. However, prisons can struggle to balance security with humane and dignified treatment for the increasing numbers of people dying in their care. Too often, I have been obliged to criticise the use of restraints in such cases. This bulletin is designed to encourage lessons to be learned.”