Victims to win rights on slop-out cash paid to prisoners

Earlier this month, The Scotsman revealed that windfall payments to prisoners who have been forced to slop out could pave the way for hundreds of victims to sue their attackers, using civil law.

Now Executive ministers are set to back a move by a Labour backbench MSP which would amend the Management of Offenders Bill to have the criminals' slopping-out payments frozen whilst their victims sue them - and for the money to be taken off them if their victims win their case.

Margaret Jamieson, the MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, is expected to present a series of amendments to the bill to turn the tables on prisoners who are expected to claim anything from 2,000 to 100,000 for the "degrading" experience of slopping out.

Ms Jamieson's move has been prompted by the case of Robert Napier, who won 2,450 for the "degrading" treatment he received in Barlinnie prison, which he said caused eczema.

Napier, 25, was jailed for six years in 2001 for his part in robbing Margaret Zambonini and her 14-year-old assistant in an ice-cream van in Lanarkshire.

The Scottish Prison Service has set aside 44 million to pay for about 800 similar claims, which are made under European human rights legislation.

Ms Jamieson told The Scotsman yesterday: "I support human rights legislation, but what has happened in this case is an abuse of that legislation.

"The slopping-out compensation has been the trigger for this, but the law should also take into account other times when prisoners gain large sums of money, perhaps through inheritance or even winning the lottery.

"I believe that the victims should be able to sue the individual concerned. This is about victims getting redress, but also allowing the state to claw back money if it can."

Ms Jamieson said that under the current regime, victims of crime can claim money from prisoners but, if the perpetrator of a crime has no money, they still received compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.

Under her proposals, the money prisoners receive in slopping-out compensation could be taken from them to cover the cost to the taxpayer of expenditure, such as legal aid, as well as any criminal injury payments to their victims.

The bill will be debated at Holyrood between September and November and is expected to become law early in 2006.

Last night sources at the Executive said that Cathy Jamieson, the justice minister, would wait to see the detail of Margaret Jamieson's proposals, but indicated that ministers were sympathetic to the idea.

An Executive spokesman said: "We take the rights of victims of crime seriously and are taking forward legislation to reinforce that. Victims are - even at present - free to make a claim under the laws of 'delict'. But any proposed amendments to the bill will be considered carefully by ministers."

Section 13 of the Management of Offenders Bill extends to Scotland the powers to allow the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority to recover money from offenders.