STRESSED-OUT inmates at one of the region's prisons are being treated for anxiety and alcohol addiction with ear acupuncture sessions.

Prisoners at Durham City, a category B unit that houses the second-most dangerous tier of offenders, are benefiting from a complimentary therapy called auricular acupuncture - based on traditional Chinese medicine.

The treatment involves using needles or an electronic device on the outer ear.

Experts say it can help treat chronic complaints such as anxiety, depression, stress and alcohol and drug addictions.

A one-hour therapy session costs about £30.

But criminal justice campaigners have condemned the treatment, saying prisons were becoming more like holiday camps than punishment centres - at the taxpayers expense.

A spokesman for the Prison Service said the treatment helped to reduce self-harm among prisoners.

He said: "Complimentary therapies in prison are not really a new thing.

"It does not take place in every jail in the country and is not available to every prisoner.

"They offer it to prisoners who are at risk of self-harm, people who are in the health care centre and people who have mental health problems.

"Also, people with drug problems, to detox, they compliment that with holistic therapies."

David Hines, of the North of England Victims Association, said: "It makes a mockery of justice.

"They are in there to be punished and rehabilitated - but they have things the wrong way around.

"Pampering seems to be the latest thing.

"How many victims of crime could afford these treatments?

"I wish they would give victims £30 an hour."

The 19th Century Durham Prison can accommodate category A male prisoners - the most violent and dangerous offenders - and is also a category A women's centre.

The Prison Service said the jail also has a close supervision centre, which holds a small number of prisoners who are among the most difficult and disruptive in the prison system.

Holme House prison, near Stockton, Teesside, used to offer acupuncture therapy but it is no longer available to inmates.

The Prison Service was not able to confirm last night if any complimentary treatments were offered to female prisoners at Low Newton prison, Durham, which houses a small number of inmates with life sentences, as well as those convicted of lesser offences.

Controversy over complimentary therapy for inmates comes after Peterborough Prison announced it was employing two £18,000-a-year holistic therapists to carry out treatments.