Negligent care in prison can mean a right to claim for personal injury

Although prisoners are deprived of their freedom, they still have rights, including a right to expect to be kept safe whilst inside the prison.

If you are/were a prisoner who suffered personal injury due to negligent care, you may have a right to claim compensation.

Duty of care

HM Prison Service have a duty to protect all prisoners from personal injury and foreseeable harm, including injury and neglect.  This duty extends to taking proportionate action to protect prisoners.

If prison staff have failed to meet this duty of care or take reasonable action to protect prisoners against harm, then the injured person may be able to claim against the prison service.

Common personal injuries in prison

• Slips and trips
• Medical negligence
• Dental negligence
• Burns
• Workplace accidents
• Transport accidents
• Accidents in the gym
• Assaults, where you and prison staff were aware you were in danger but staff did not heed that risk and take action to protect you.

If you have suffered a personal injury in prison that is not included in the above list, get in touch with our specialist legal team and we can consider the circumstance in which you suffered injury and advise you accordingly.

Pursuing your personal injury claim

If you have suffered personal injury in prison, there are preliminary steps you can take to improve your chances of recovering compensation, such as:

• Making detailed notes of the events that took place and the injuries sustained.
• Considering if there were any witnesses, and noting details of witnesses, or asking them to provide statements to support your potential claim.
• Gathering evidence of the circumstances of your injuries, i.e., keeping a diary to record recovery, taking photographs of the injuries are different stages.
• Reporting the accident so there is a formal record that the incident took place.
• Seeking specialist legal advice.

It is important to note the importance of the concept of foreseeability when considering such claims.

The prison service will only be negligent for injuries sustained whilst in prison if it was reasonable for the prison staff to foresee the risk of injury occurring.  If the risk is reasonably foreseeable, in order to be successful we must be able to establish that the prison staff failed to take reasonable steps to protect prisoners against that risk.  If reasonable steps were not taken, then you may have sufficient merit to pursue a claim.