Lock up prison compensation claims, MPs state
It has emerged that the amount of compensation claims made by prisoners for "slopping out" at Edinburgh's Saughton jail has increased.
A total of 385 outstanding cases were recorded in November, but that number has risen to 398. Kenny MacAskill,
justice secretary, revealed the total in a parliamentary answer.
The cases involve inmates or former inmates from the prison seeking cash pay-outs for what judges have ruled is a breach of their human rights.
The news is thought to anger the public, especially after figures last month showed that Scottish prisoners won nearly £4 million in accident claim payouts and to ‘slop out’ their cells, in just one year.
However, the government has since tried to reduce the number of personal injury claims, by stating that prisoners only had a one year time limit to file their case.
Lothians Tory MSP Gavin Brown has calculated that it is likely to add up to a bill of more than £1 million. He stated: “The slopping out fiasco has already cost the taxpayer millions of pounds and looks set to grab another million pounds from the public coffers.”
A government source said: “Nobody likes to see criminals being paid public cash. But we have made sure the amount paid out is much less.”
Claims that anger the public
There has been much criticism over the fact that criminals get access to claims. However this argument is not helped by examples of frivolous cases being filed in the detainment service.
Just a few claims consist of - three murderers who filed compensation after being put in solitary - for their own protection - but where each awarded £2100 for hurt feelings.
In December, a paedophile won a cash payout from jail bosses who could not find a dentist to treat his toothache, and a month earlier, a killer received £1400 after a prison officer bit him.
A spokesman for the Prison Service commented: “Each compensation claim received by the Prison Service is treated on its individual merits.
“It is also important to consider that any high-cost claims that are settled during a given year can completely distort the total amount of compensation that is paid out - making it very difficult to identify any genuine trends or significant year-on-year developments,” he said.
The head of the Prison Service's operational litigation unit, Derek Ramsden, noted that jails had been affected by the culture of litigation, thus affecting the rest of society.
He stated: “Accidents happen, but now people often look for someone to blame rather than themselves.
“Personal injury can cover a multitude of sins: slipping or falling down stairs, a chair collapsing, falling off a ladder or through a ceiling. We even had one prisoner that had his finger bitten off by a horse.”
Ed Usher, of national victim support group Victims' Voice, said: “The human rights of the victim are never taken into account.
“These offenders have been put behind bars because they chose to commit the crime. Provided they are held in decent surroundings, it's ridiculous they should make these sorts of claims for damages.”
Updated on 09/03/2010