Inmate wins payout for lost toothbrush

PRISONERS have received hundreds of thousands of pounds from the taxpayer in compensation for lost or damaged property, official figures reveal.

More than 10,000 payouts have been made since 2013 for items including a dressing gown, hair clippers and trainers. More than £850,000 was awarded over the last four years, according to Ministry of Justice statistics obtained under a Freedom of Information request.

In the year 2014-15 alone, the bill topped £300,000. Lost items for which compensation was awarded include a CD (£5.95), a DVD player (£60), an e-cigarette (£50), hair clippers (£16), a rechargeable toothbrush (£19.99), a watch (£30), a duvet and duvet cover (£27), toiletries (£4.09), a dressing gown (£20) and trainers (£35). The belongings would either have been kept by a prisoner in their cell or stored by the jail. More than a quarter of complaints investigated by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman in 2016-17 related to lost or damaged property.

It has warned that prisons are ‘using scarce resources paying compensation for lost and damaged property’. The MOJ said: ‘We are successful in two-thirds of cases brought against us by prisoners. We are determined to do all we can to bring down the cost of compensation.’

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