10,000 people given compensation for being wrongly jailed

Some 10,000 people were paid a total of €22m in compensation for wrongful imprisonment last year, the NRC said on Saturday.


The number of people wrongfully arrested and held in custody was up 11% on 2010 and is double the total five years ago, the paper said.
People are entitled to compensation if they are arrested and later found not guilty or if they are found to have been held in custody for a trivial offence. In 2005, 4.5% of people taken to court were found not guilty. By 2010 that had risen to 8.5%.
Maastricht University professor Taru Spronken told the paper the increase in compensation claims is a notable development. ‘Almost everyone who is wrongly jailed claims compensation,’ he said.
The standard compensation is €105 for a night in a police cell and €80 for a night in a detention centre.

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