Wrongly imprisoned and the scandal of no compensation

Wrongly imprisoned and the scandal of no compensation

Recently the Supreme Court ruled that those whom have had their convictions quashed are not entitled to compensation for having lost years of their lives having been wrongly imprisoned.

The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Police Act 2014 provided a compensation scheme for those wrongly imprisoned. Any individual had to demonstrate innocence “beyond reasonable doubt”.

Dean Kingham our head of prison and civil liberties was appalled at the Court’s decision. He had this to say,

“Proving innocence beyond reasonable doubt is a ridiculously high hurdle and has resulted in significant injustice. Victor Nealon spent 17 years in prison before his conviction was quashed. He was released with just £46. He was turfed out with no housing and nothing in place for him. He could not prove innocence beyond reasonable doubt and has not been able to secure compensation. This is absolutely appalling. The state has made a mistake and he lost 17 years of his life. His life expectancy has not doubt deteriorated due to the quality of his living conditions and food for 17 years. We should be doing all we can to help Mr. Nealon and compensating him. Instead we have failed him again”.

It had been hoped the Supreme Court would take the fair approach, but they have failed all those whom have suffered a miscarriage of justice and have their convictions quashed, due to the ridiculously high threshold for securing compensation.