Midland prisons payout £350k to greedy inmates

Mar 14 2010 by Ben Goldby, Sunday Mercury

The Worcestershire lock-up also has a specialist terrorist detention unit, which previously held hate preacher Abu Qatada.

It is currently home to Islamic terror mentor Mohammed Hamid, 51, dubbed Osama Bin London, and fanatic Adel Abdel Bary, wanted in the US for the 1998 African embassy bombings which killed 230 people.

Glyn Travis, assistant secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association, said: “Prisoners know they can get an out-of-court payment and they are making ridiculous claims.

“They are claiming for shoes and clothes that they have sold for drug money and they’re getting away with it.

“Taxpayers are footing the bill for gold teeth being knocked out in fights and paying hundreds of pounds for designer trainers and clothes that have mysteriously disappeared.

“There should be a public enquiry into these pay-outs.”

Winson Green jail saw a total of 91 inmates winning compensation from the Prison Service between 2006 and 2009, claiming more than £47,000.

Over the same period 27 inmates at HMP Brinsford in Wolverhampton pocketed £4,600, while 65 crooks at neighbouring HMP Featherstone claimed £11,000.

At HMP Gartree Leicestershire 117 inmates banked £44,000, while at nearby Glen Parva Young Offenders’ Institute, 25 prisoners received almost £2,400.

And 74 lags at Swinfen Hall prison in Staffordshire shared almost £7,000 after a spate of lost property claims.

Fiona McEvoy, West Midlands spokeswoman for the Taxpayers’ Alliance, blasted the Prison Service for allowing inmates to profit from behind bars.

She said: “It certainly looks as though convicts are running rings around the authorities, draining the public purse, using ridiculous loopholes and generally making a mockery of the system.

“It’s a travesty that criminals are able to profit from their time inside while law-abiding citizens are called upon to foot the bill.

“More needs to be done to protect taxpayers’ money which could clearly be better spent elsewhere. Indulging the compensation culture within prisons is only going to make it more prolific and encourage inmates to try their luck.

“These people should be paying their debt to society, not siphoning off more cash.”

Greedy criminals at the Midlands jails claimed a total of £34,500 for extended detention, claiming that their human rights were violated through “false imprisonment” when errors left them serving a few extra days behind bars.

There were around 50 claims for damaged property, costing just under £4,000, while 347 lost property lawsuits resulted in more than £35,000 in payouts.

Personal injury litigation cost the jails almost £100,000, with 86 prisoners receiving cash.

The official figures also contained 20 claims for “other” damages, which the Prison Service was unable to provide further details on.

These resulted in payouts of just under £22,000.

A Prison Service spokesman said: “Each case is dealt with on its merits and, as far as the evidence allows, all claims are robustly defended.

“The National Offender Management Service successfully defends significantly more civil claims than are settled.

“Such claims are only settled on the basis of strong legal advice from the Prison Service lawyers.

“The amount of compensation is determined following a full analysis of all the available evidence.”

There have been a series of high-profile payouts to other notorious inmates at jails across Britain in the past.

In 2008 feared armed robber Charles Bronson was awarded £200 for a broken pair of glasses, despite having attacked more than 50 guards while inside. Back in 2002 mass murderer Jeremy Bamber received compensation after a computer game was stolen from his cell by fellow lags.

But the largest payout came in 2006 when a group of 200 drug addicts banded together to sue the Prison Service and received £749,000 for being forced to give up heroin “cold turkey” while incarcerated.