A prisoner who fell from his bunk bed and suffered permanent brain damage has won £4.7 million in damages.

Ryan St George was in Brixton prison serving a four-month sentence for theft. The authorities were aware that he was an intravenous heroin user and was prone to seizures, yet he was moved from a lower bunk to an upper one.

The accident happened when he suffered a fit and fell from the top bunk onto a concrete floor, hitting his head, and then had an epileptic fit that lasted for one and a half hours.

The High Court found that prison staff had failed to provide Mr St George with the required level of care. There was a delay in calling the ambulance and, when it did arrive, it was held up because the prison gates wouldn’t open.

When the ambulance crew was finally able to reach Mr St George, there was no member of the prison staff with him so paramedics had to rely on other inmates for information. There had been a failure to maintain Mr St George’s airway and to administer oxygen to him. As a result, he suffered damage to his brain.

In the High Court, Mr Justice Mackay found that Mr St George’s choice of lifestyle had contributed to the condition that caused his fall and he was therefore 15 per cent to blame for the accident. On appeal, however, the Court of Appeal ruled that the Home Office was 100 per cent liable for his injuries.

A £4.7 million compensation package was agreed, which comprises a lump sum and, unusually, annual periodical payments to pay the rent on a new home for Mr St George.

Human rights are not lost simply because a person is in jail and the Home Office has a responsibility to take reasonable care of prisoners who are physically or mentally ill.