Prisoners sue water chiefs

Fourteen prisoners at Dartmoor jail are claiming compensation from water chiefs after contracting a salmonella infection which may have affected up to 200 inmates. South West Water said it had received a compensation claim which had been passed to their loss adjusters, but the spokesman added: "We are denying liability."

The prisoners at the Devon jail were granted legal aid to pursue the claim, which their solicitor Derek Reed said was a "very complex issue". The outbreak in September 1995, caused sickness and diarrhoea for about two weeks.