Convicted burglar sues prison bosses for £50,000 over claim slopping out breached human rights law

Daniel Cornell says being left overnight with a chamber pot was inhuman, degrading and a breach of his human rights.

In a writ filed with the High Court, he claims he was kept in a cell for 13 hours at a time at Blundeston prison near Lowestoft, Suffolk.

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The 32-year-old said he had access to a shared toilet with an electronic lock, but that flaws in the system often left him to go a whole night without getting to use it.

The facility could be used by only one prisoner at a time and the number of individual visits was limited.

The writ says that inmates were given plastic chamber pots which could be emptied in a communal sluice when their cells were opened.

Cornell, from Colchester, claims that being made to use a pot in a poorly-ventilated cell was a breach of articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

The writ reads: "After the chamber pots are used, they remain uncovered in a prisoner's cell until the prisoner is unlocked.

"During this time, a prisoner may wish to eat or sleep. The claimant has been forced to use a chamber pot on a number of occasions."

The document said the lack of adequate access to sanitation facilities was "inhuman and degrading".

It also claimed the 7ft x 7ft cell was smaller than that recommended by the Council of Europe.

Cornell, who was jailed for three-and-a-half years at Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex in June 2004, is suing the Ministry of Justice over his stint behind bars, which ended in November 2005.

He had admitted a string of house burglaries between May 2003 and April 2004 which netted property worth £15,000.

A spokesman for the Prison Reform Trust said he believed the practice of slopping out had ended.

"Obviously I don't know any of the details, but that sort of thing shouldn't be happening unless the toilets have broken down or are temporarily unavailable," he added.

But Bob Russell, LibDem MP for Colchester, said the writ was little more than a joke, adding: "The general public would wish to treat this sort of behaviour with the contempt it deserves."

It is understood that Cornell, who is now a Railtrack engineer, is receiving legal aid for his case.

Last night he said: "I've got a good case and there is precedent for this - a case in Scotland and two in America."

He said his solicitors had put seven QCs on to the case.

Built in 1963, Blundeston holds 464 inmates. According to the Prison Service website, it is a category C training jail providing a therapeutic community, assessment unit and offending behaviour courses.