Prisoner compensation.

Apparently the child killer Ian Huntley, who was allegedly attacked by  fellow inmate Damien Fowkes in Frankland prison last Sunday, could be entitled to compensation. Huntley's lawyer has indicated that his client could sue the Ministry of Justice for up to £20,000 for not protecting him whilst in their "care". This is not the first time Huntley has been attacked in prison and not the first time he has sought compensation. The previous occasion was when he scalded by hot water in 2005. The present Justice Secretary Jack Straw answering a Parliamentary question about the latest attack was quoted as saying "I can say to this House as an absolute fact that it would be robustly, vigorously resisted by this government, and we have absolutely no intention of making such compensation payments." Let's hope he does just that. The idea of Huntley, or any convicted criminal being able to get any form of compensation whilst in prison does not deserve to be given any thought whatsoever. First of all, any form of financial gain is an insult to the victim's families. Secondly, if claims were to become successful what's to stop inmates conspiring together to stage a mock  attack so that they can go down the compensation route. After all prisoners have plenty of time to plan what to do, especially if they have nothing to lose. The majority would be entitled to Legal Aid, paid for by hard working tax-payers. Imagine this type of thing happening elsewhere in the world, where human life is less important. I am not saying that we should go down the flogging, decapitating, capital punishment route, but I do think that once you have been convicted of a crime that justifies a prison sentence, you fore-go any rights you are entitled to on the outside. The general public are sick of hearing about prisoner's rights and not enough about the victim's rights. Let's hope the judiciary and politicians remember this.