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19th May 2006
Denying prisoners the right to claim compensation is a return to Dickensian workhouses, lawyers warn
Personal Injury Compensation
Thompsons Solicitors, the UK’s most experienced personal injury law firm, has warned that to deny prisoners the right to claim compensation for personal injury would be a return to the dark days of the Dickensian workplace.Tom Jones, Thompsons’ head of policy and public affairs, said: “The story doing the rounds today that prisoners’ claims are part of the ‘compensation culture’ is astonishing. There is no ‘compensation culture’ gripping this country. The statistics clearly show that if anything claims are falling.
“It is frankly appalling that personal injury and clinical negligence claims by prisoners, where there is genuine injury and negligence, is being whipped up as ‘compensation culture’.
“Whatever crime they may have committed, prisoners are human beings with certain rights. Unless society is going to decide that certain groups are unable to claim compensation and that prisoners are ineligible for compensation, then why should they not claim compensation for pain and injury caused by someone else's negligence?
Medical Negligence Claims
“Many of these claims are for clinical negligence. For example, failure to get prisoners to hospital in time, causing them further injury as a result. What sort of society would say that it is acceptable for any ill or injured person to be left waiting for urgent medical attention? We wouldn’t treat a dog like this.
“We ask those who say these claims are part of a compensation culture to consider whether a society in which prisoners have all their rights removed - including the right to medical treatment and the right to seek justice for personal injury - is the kind of society they want to be a part of. Such a society would be a return to the days of Dickensian workhouses, with inmates expected to doff their caps and endure the pain in silence.”
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