Disabled prisoner to be paid £20,000 for discrimination at Belmarsh

Disabled prisoner to be paid £20,000 for discrimination at Belmarsh

Ministry concedes discrimination against wheelchair-using prisoner who initially received no help in toilet or bathroom

Belmarsh prison: wheelchair user Abdullah Baybasin was held here for six years before being acquitted at a retrial last month. Photograph: Dan Chung for the Guardian

The prison service is to pay out £20,000 in damages to a prisoner who uses a wheelchair in compensation for the "degrading" treatment he received while in Belmarsh jail in London.

The Ministry of Justice conceded the claim for disability discrimination today made by Abdullah Baybasin, a 53-year-old Turkish Kurd. He was acquitted at a retrial last month of being a drug baron who conspired to supply 2.3kg of heroin.

Baybasin said that when he was first taken to Belmarsh in 2004, he had to look after himself. There was no help from staff for him while using the toilet or bathing so he had to rely on other prisoners.

At one point during his sentence he was told to stand up by a prison officer who told him the fact he was disabled made no difference. Even when he was later provided with a care assistant, there were always delays which meant that he was left for unacceptably long periods in his bed having soiled himself, on the toilet or in a cold bath.

"The treatment I received at HMP Belmarsh was very degrading and at times I struggled to cope. I thought I would die in prison, and often thought things would never get better," he said.

He said no account was taken of his disability, which meant that during his first three years he had no access to education, the library or the gym. His first visit to the library was this summer, only after his legal action had been brought to court.

"Although it hurt me to do so, I felt I had no option but to instruct my solicitors to bring a claim against the prison to try and stop the very bad way in which I was being treated and make them acknowledge the problem," he said today in a statement.

"This claim is not about money. What is important is that the defendant has publicly acknowledged that their treatment of me at HMP Belmarsh was unlawful and they have apologised for this. Hopefully, this means that the Ministry of Justice will change the way that they care for all disabled prisoners."

Although Baybasin had been granted political asylum in 2004 he was described as one of the most dangerous drug dealers in Europe when he was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to 22 years. But the court of appeal directed a retrial and Judge Charles Byers at Woolwich crown court last month ordered the jury to find him not guilty as there was no direct evidence of his involvement in a drug smuggling conspiracy.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said it was open to all prisoners, staff and third parties to pursue civil litigation claims for any perceived wrongdoing.

"Each litigation case is dealt with on its merits and, so far as the evidence allows, all claims are robustly defended," the spokesman said. "In fact the Prison Service defends significantly more civil claims than are settled. Such claims are only settled on the basis of strong legal advice. The amount of compensation is determined following a full analysis of all the available evidence and taking account of the Judicial Studies Board guidelines."