DHA Won’t Release Payout Bill

The gov won’t be revealing how much the taxpayer paid to people detained at the prison during the Covid lockdown.

No-admission settlements were reached with four people who claimed their human rights were breached by conditions at the prison when inmates were isolated in their cells for up to 14 days.

The High Court ruled against on claimant who decline the offer of a settlement, with Deemster Christopher Cope saying that the regime had used ‘exceptional measures for exceptional times’.

However four other people who were in the prison during this time agreed to settle with the Department of Home Affairs, agreeing what the department said were ‘modest payments made in the name of public interest’.

Today a spokesperson told Gef: ‘The settlement is subject to a non-disclosure agreement and we are unable to release details of the settlement, but it is the view of the department that the settlement represented good value for money against the costs of a contested hearing where each of the additional claimants were also publicly funded.’