Prisoners claiming to have been assaulted in jail paid £5million in past 10 years

PRISONERS have been paid more than £5 million in compensation over the last 10 years from claims they were victims of violent assaults, The Sun can reveal.

Hundreds of inmates received the pay-outs from the taxpayer after alleging they were beaten up by fellow cons or prison officers.

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Successful compo claimants include serial killer Levi Bellfield, awarded £4,500 in 2014 for an attack at top security Wakefield jail which left him with minor injuries.

Another litigant lag was double killer Lee Newell, 54, who got £85,000 after losing an eye in an assault at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes, Bucks.

Both claimed the Ministry of Justice was “in breach of its obligation” to keep them “reasonably safe.”

Figures obtained under freedom laws show that from 2014 until now prisoners were paid £4.21 million in claims for attacks from other cons in MoJ-run jails across England and Wales.

Inmates raked in a further £932k from civil claims alleging they were assaulted by guards.

Meanwhile, prison officers were paid out almost £15 million during the same period in compensation claims after being attacked by cons.

The figures do not include privately run prisons.

Latest figures show there were 20,872 assaults behind bars in the year to September 2022 – up from 18,853 the previous year.

Compo pay-outs from assaults have helped fuel the £21 million shelled out by prison chiefs to inmates over the last four years for a wide range of claims, including breach of human rights.

One inmate sued the prison service after lawyers claimed that he had developed PTSD from rats running over his bed while serving a sentence in Wormwood Scrubs.

Some law firms now advertise prison newspaper Converse offering inmates no win no fee deals to sue.

One advert placed by law firm Jefferies Solicitors states: “You’ve lost your freedom but not your rights.

“If you’re injured through no fault of your own you’ve got exactly the same legal rights to compensation as anyone else. Fact.”

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “We successfully defend two-thirds of cases brought by prisoners and any debts to victims and the courts are paid before the offender sees a penny.”