A former inmate who threw faeces and urine at a prison officer in Channings Wood Jail is to be assessed for a drug rehabilitation course.
Daniel Gibbon, aged 32, was due to be sentenced at Exeter Crown Court but his case was adjourned to await a report from the drug service in Bristol, where he is living.
Gibbon, of Stokes Croft, Bristol, admitted administering a noxious substance or poison at the jail near Newton Abbot on June 12 last year.
He was serving a sentence at the prison when he carried out the offence but has since been released and is now on bail.
He has entered a basis of plea in which he says he was forced to carry out the attack by threats from other inmates.
Miss Caighli Taylor, defending, said Gibbon is living independently for the first time after many years of homelessness and this has given him an opportunity to address the drug addiction that has led to his past offending.
She said he is also seeking help for mental health issues including depression and adult ADHD.
Judge David Evans adjourned sentence until November 25 but told Gibbon that immediate imprisonment remained a likely outcome.