Wow The UK pays prisoners !

[kimmy]

Prisoners receive £10m compensation in last five years

Many compensation claims relate to late release
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• £1m paid to inmates let out late

Prisoners in England and Wales have received more than £10m in compensation over the past five years, figures show.
Figures released by the Ministry of Justice to the Press Association showed almost £1.6m was paid out in 2010-11.
Four prisoners got between £125,000 and £62,000 in personal injury cases. Three got £25,000 for "false imprisonment".
The MoJ said all claims were "robustly defended and would only be settled on the basis of strong legal advice" to get the best value for the taxpayer.
"The vast majority of prisoners' compensation claims are relatively trivial, do not merit financial redress, and are dismissed at an early stage," an MoJ spokesman added.
Medical negligenceIn 2010-11 some 280 offenders won payouts of less than £10,000, with many of the smaller claims relating to delays in processing release papers, which can lead to prisoners spending too long behind bars.
The £1.6m paid out was less than half the £3,286,521 awarded in 2009-10, when the total was boosted by £1.6m in payouts for medical negligence cases.
The figures showed that a total of £1,669,312 was paid out in 2008-09, £1,452,309 in 2007-08 and £2,142,671 in 2006-07.
One of the largest compensation payments to date was a £2.8m settlement in 2005-06.
In a separate case, £1.14m went to former prisoner Gregg Marston, of Shoeburyness, Essex, who was left crippled when a doctor failed to send him for an urgent examination.
His case, which was settled out of court, centred on his treatment at Chelmsford prison in Essex in February 2000.
Lobby group the Taxpayers' Alliance said the public would be shocked at the figures.
Director Matthew Sinclair said: "It's an incredible amount of money... and with so much pressure both on families' finances and on the budgets in public services, people are going to be very worried about seeing so much money going on compensation to prisoners.
"It does raise issues both about management in prisons and about some of that culture... that compensation culture which is resulting in such large payouts."
BBC political correspondent Robin Brant said the figures, which included the coalition's first year in government, appeared politically "unpalatable" at a time when government departments are finding ways to save money.
Although £10m was small in relation to hundreds and hundreds of millions of pounds in savings, our correspondent called it "awkward" for the justice secretary and prime minister.
The Ministry of Justice figures for England and Wales show 280 inmates were paid an average of £3,600 each.
The payments are triggered when prison authorities fail to keep to their own commitment to release an inmate as previously agreed.
The number of inmates compensated amount to less than 1% of the roughly 80,000 inmates held at any one time.
Prisoners can claim £110 for each day they are kept inside beyond their expected release date.
The figures released under a Freedom of Information request showed that departing inmates received £276,000 in the financial year to the end of March 2008, £491,059 in the next year, and £260,000 in 2009-10.
The payments for late release are typically triggered by mistakes made in the prison by managers who must calculate precise release dates.
These calculations can be difficult because of uncertainty over exactly how much time an inmate had spent in police custody or on remand during a trial.
'Robust' defenceA Ministry of Justice spokesman said that prisoners, like anyone else, had the right to sue authorities over claims of wrongdoing.
"Each litigation case is dealt with on its merits and, so far as the evidence allows, all claims are robustly defended," said the spokesman.
"The Prison Service defends significantly more civil claims than are settled. Such claims are only settled on the basis of strong legal advice from the Prison Service's appointed solicitors.
"Prisoners may also seek compensation through the internal complaints procedures, without going through the legal process, for items such as lost or damaged property.
"Each claim is investigated and, if substantiated and the prison found to be at fault for the loss or damage, the prisoner may receive compensation."
Pressure group the Taxpayers Alliance said the Ministry of Justice should get its house in order.

[billynomates]

Oh there's loads of similar stories. We're mugs.

[kazza1985]

I absolutely agree that false imprisonment should be compensated. You hear cases all the time about how people spend half their lives in prison just to be released with an "oops sorry" because the police couldn't do their job properly and are too keen to catch someone for a crime rather than put it on their books as unsolved as it then looks bad on their figures. jeez!

Aside from that, prisoners have far too many rights. I remember the first time I saw this building in our local city and said to mum it looked like a nice hotel to which she said "that's a prison"