Liepāja Prison Inmate Seeks €46,000 Compensation from State Over Soup, Cellmates and Transport

An inmate of Liepāja Prison in western Latvia has begun a lengthy legal fight against the prison administration. In his court application he demands compensation described as several tens of thousands, while the headline of the original report gives the sum as 46,000. A panel of judges at the Administrative Regional Court had to decide whether the claim is justified. The source does not say what the ruling was.

What the inmate complains about

The man says he suffered because of several matters:

• the soup recipe was changed, and the headline says cabbage soup was served instead of rassolnik;
• the prison administration planned to place in his cell inmates he calls "lower caste" prisoners;
• he was taken to hospital in a vehicle without a built-in toilet.

What the court had to weigh

The judges had to decide whether these conditions amount to a human rights violation or are unavoidable inconveniences linked to serving a sentence in prison.

The publication notes that prison is not a resort and that unwritten traditions, hard to eradicate, still exist in places of detention. Inmates also have plenty of time to reflect on their situation, which often results in complaints. Such cases sometimes become public, although daily life in prisons usually stays hidden from society.