Convicts set to sue over cell smokers
TAXPAYERS face a massive new prisoner compensation payout over non-smoking inmates being forced to share cells with smokers.
Convicts are appealing under human rights legislation over the dangers from passive smoking – fears ignored by Scottish ministers when enforcing the smoking ban in 2006.
Legal experts warned then that the issue would echo the £11million slopping out compensation debacle.
Compensation lawyer Tony Kelly, who won the infamous test case on behalf of inmate Robert Napier, warned that several claims had already been raised.
Most inmates smoke and cells are exempt from the smoking ban.
Human rights lawyer Cameron Fyfe said: “We all know about passive smoking. If a prisoner developed lung cancer or other respiratory illness, the compensation for individual cases would be much higher than for just slopping out.” New Chief Inspector of Prisons, Brigadier Hugh Monro, is concerned about the issue.
He said: “In a small number of cases, I have found a prisoner who is a non-smoker sharing a cell with a smoker.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Prisons Service said: “We try to make sure non-smokers do not have to share with smokers.”