Prison Service accused of cover up over compensation pay-out

5:07pm Thursday 11th January 2007

THE Prison Service was today accused of a cover-up as it maintains a veil of silence over a massive compensation payout to a suicidal inmate.

It has repeatedly refused to give details of the incident that led to a £575,000 out-of-court settlement to a young prisoner at Northallerton Young Offenders' Institution in North Yorkshire.

"The public have a right to know when sums of this nature are being spent."

Liberal Democrat MP, Phil Willis

Now an official question is to be tabled to the Home Office by an outraged MP, demanding to know the circumstances behind the huge payment.

Leading Liberal-Democrat Phil Willis, who campaigns against the waste of public money, said: "The public have a right to know when sums of this nature are being spent."

Mr Willis, who is also calling for an inquiry, added: "We've just got to get to the truth of the matter."

The payout was made after the unknown inmate, aged between 18 and 21, attempted to take his own life and was saved by prison officers. It is believed his claim centred on an alleged breach human rights.

Although the payment was made last year it is believed the incident itself happened several years ago.

The Prison Officers' Association is now preparing to take the issue up with the Government's powerful all-party Public Accounts Committee in an attempt to get to the heart of the matter.

Assistant secretary Glyn Travis said: "We have been trying to find out the name of the prisoner and the year that whatever happened took place but no-one has any recollection and the Prison Service isn't saying.

"This should be a public issue. People should know why this young boy has received so much money."

The POA has no records of any officer at the prison being disciplined or sacked over negligence or misconduct at the time the incident is rumoured to have happened, some four or five years ago.

Mr Travis said: "This is like a cloak-and-dagger mystery. There should be openness and transparency. What is wrong with telling people?"

He added: "If there was some fault then fine, let the public know - otherwise it seems like a massive cover-up."

The local Tory MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague, has already labelled the payment a disgrace and plans to ask questions of his own.

The payment has also angered prominent North Yorkshire councillor John Blackie, chairman of the county's health scrutiny committee.

"Just a stone's throw from the prison is the Friarage Hospital which is facing a £5m deficit and some of its core services, which are vital to the area, are under threat," he said.

"£575,000 would not fill that gap - but it would go a long way towards relieving it. It is an odd sense of priorities."