CASE OF SCOPPOLA v. ITALY (No. 3)(Application no. 126/05) – Read judgment / press release / press release on UK implications The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that states must allow for at least some prisoners to vote, but that states have a wide discretion as to deciding which prisoners. [...]
Archive for the ‘Prisons’ Category
European Court of Human Rights retreats but doesn’t surrender on prisoner votes
Posted in Case comments, European, Politics / Public Order, Prisons, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections, tagged human rights on May 22, 2012 | 8 Comments »
Refusal of child care leave to female prisoners was unlawful, rules High Court
Posted in Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Case comments, Case summaries, Criminal, Family, In the news, Prisons, tagged child protection, children's rights, Prisoners on April 16, 2012 |
MP, R(on the application of) v the Secretary of State for Justice [2012] EWHC 214 (Admin) – read judgment The prison authorities had acted unlawfully in restricting childcare resettlement leave to prisoners who were within two years of their release date and had been allocated to “open” conditions. Two female prisoners applied for judicial [...]
No extradition for Shrien Dewani – for now
Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, Art. 3 | Torture / Inhumane Treatment, Case law, Case summaries, Criminal, Immigration/Extradition, In the news, Mental Health, Prisons, tagged extradition, extradition act, Immigration/Extradition, Mental Health, prison on March 31, 2012 |
The Government of the Republic of South Africa v Shrien Dewani- Read decision The extradition to South Africa of Shrien Dewani, the man accused of murdering his wife on honeymoon there in 2010, has been delayed pending an improvement in his mental health. The case made headlines in 2010, when the story broke of a honeymooning [...]
All by myself: segregation, prisons and Article 6
Posted in Art. 3 | Torture / Inhumane Treatment, Art. 6 | Right to Fair Trial, Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Case law, Case summaries, Prisons, tagged Prisoners, prisoners rights, right to a fair trial, segregation on March 30, 2012 |
Bourgass and others v Secretary of State for Justice [2012] EWCA Civ 376 Read decision The ability to interact with other prisoners is a major part of prison life, and not one many prisoners would give up willingly. But there are circumstances where prisoners have to be segregated from the rest of the prison population, [...]
Indefinite detention: not very British
Posted in Art. 3 | Torture / Inhumane Treatment, Art. 6 | Right to Fair Trial, Criminal, European, Immigration/Extradition, In the news, Prisons, Terrorism, tagged abu qatada on February 8, 2012 | 10 Comments »
Angus McCullough QC appeared for Abu Qatada as his Special Advocate in the domestic proceedings before SIAC, the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords. He is not the author of this post. ‘Human Rights Act to blame!’ is a frequent refrain in the media, as well reported on this blog. Often, though, the outcome [...]
Extradition of murder accused to US not breach of human rights
Posted in Art. 3 | Torture / Inhumane Treatment, Case law, Criminal, Immigration/Extradition, International, Prisons, tagged Harkins and Edwards on January 19, 2012 | 1 Comment »
HARKINS AND EDWARDS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM – 9146/07 [2012] ECHR 45 – Read judgment The European Court of Human Rights has found that there would be no breach of Article 3 ECHR (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment) in extraditing two men accused of murder to the US. The men argued that they face the death [...]
Youth restraint challenge rejected by High Court
Posted in Art. 3 | Torture / Inhumane Treatment, Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Case comments, Case summaries, Children, In the news, Poor reporting, Prisons, tagged Access to justice, Standing on January 16, 2012 | 1 Comment »
The Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) v Secretary of State for Justice and G4S Care and Justice Services (UK) Ltd and Serco plc [2012] EWHC 8 (Admin) – read judgment Although certain restraining measures had been taken unlawfully against young people in secure training centres for a number of years, the court had no jurisdiction [...]
No human right to an hour’s minimum in the open air for “lifer” – Court of Appeal
Posted in Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Case comments, Prisons on December 20, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Malcolm v Secretary of State for Justice [2011] EWCA Civ 1538 - Read Judgment The Court of Appeal has decided that a failure to provide a life sentence prisoner with a minimum of one hour in the open air each day did not constitute a breach of his human rights under Article 8 of the European Convention [...]
Prisoner votes and the democratic deficit
Posted in European, In the news, Margin of Appreciation, Prisons, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections on September 20, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I posted recently on the ongoing saga surrounding the UK’s implementation of the Hirst No. 2 case, in which the European Court of Human Rights found that the UK’s blanket ban on prisoners voting was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The correspondence between the court and the UK Government is now available and [...]
Religious freedom does not stop at the prison gates – Part 2
Posted in Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, Case comments, Case summaries, In the news, Prisons, Religion on July 21, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Jakobski v Poland (December 2010) – read judgment Mahayana Buddhists have profound moral objections to eating meat. According to the rules, a Mahayana Buddhist should avoid eating meat to cultivate compassion for all living beings. Even peaceable Buddhists commit crimes sometimes and go to prison. Meat free diets however are not available in all European [...]
Prison’s decision not to investigate sexual assault was lawful
Posted in Art. 3 | Torture / Inhumane Treatment, Case comments, Criminal, In the news, Prisons on July 13, 2011 | 4 Comments »
R (NM) Secretary v of State for Justice [2011] EWHC 1816 - Read judgment This case concerned whether the prison authorities were in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Equality Act 2010 when they failed to conduct a form investigation into a sexual assault against a prisoner with learning disabilities, NM. It was further considered whether the failure to [...]
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Recommended- Latest human rights developments in the UK: 21/5/2012 – 27/5/2012 - Law Think May 27, 2012
- UK Blawg Review #10 – Part 1 - May 27, 2012
- Can the UK suspend free movement? - Free Movement Blog May 27, 2012
- Prisoners’ votes: Ballot and chain | The Economist May 25, 2012THE vexed issue of voting rights for prisoners combines two of the Conservative Party’s main preoccupations: penal policy and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)...
- We must defy Strasbourg on prisoner votes - David Davis and Jack Straw, Telegraph May 24, 2012
- Sunlight is the best disinfectant: open justice and company law proceedings May 24, 2012
- Names and CVs of Candidate Judges for Eight Countries May 24, 2012
- UK to resist giving prisoners the vote despite European court ruling | Law | The Guardian May 23, 2012
- Case law
- SCOPPOLA v. ITALY (No. 3) - 126/05 [2012] ECHR 868 (22 May 2012) May 23, 2012ECtHR Grand Chamber: automatic and indiscriminate disenfranchisement of prisoners unlawful but up to individual states how to implement changes were such a ban exist
- Dishonesty in entry clearance applications May 21, 2012An Upper Tribunal (UT) decision confirms that, where an application for entry clearance is “marred by dishonesty” – whether in the applicant’s knowledge or not and even where the applicant is presently eligible for entry – it is not a disproportionate response for the Home Secretary to refuse the application, even in light of Article 8
- MM and AO (A Child), R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] EWCA Civ 668 (18 May 2012) May 18, 2012Secretary of State acted lawfully in not ordering independent inquiry into 2009 protest at Immigration Detention Centre. Challenge by children separated from parents during protest and claiming pschiatric damage as result.
- British Sky Broadcasting Ltd & Ors, R (on the application of) v Chelmsford Crown Court [2012] EWHC 1295 (Admin) (17 May 2012) May 17, 2012Sky, BBC, ITN etc. succeed in JR of decision by court to order production of 100+ hours of video footage to Essex Police of Dale Farm protesters: "... there were no reasonable grounds for believing that the footage of over 100 hours included material likely to be of substantial value to the investigation"
- Humphreys v Revenue and Customs [2012] UKSC 18 (16 May 2012) May 16, 2012Supreme Court: paying child tax credit to "main" care giver not discriminatory under art.14 ECHR to father caring for child 3 days per week. The specific test for justifying discrimination in the context of state benefits is that with questions of social and economic strategy the Court will generally respect the legislature’s policy choice unless i […]
- Hounga v Allen & Anor [2012] EWCA Civ 609 (15 May 2012) May 16, 2012Court of Appeal: Person knowingly working illegally cannot bring racial discrimination claim against "employers"
- SCOPPOLA v. ITALY (No. 3) - 126/05 [2012] ECHR 868 (22 May 2012) May 23, 2012
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UKHRB on Twitter
- Weekend catchup from Wessen Jazrawi- prisoner voting, Bratza's replacement and peaceful protest- human rights roundup ukhumanrightsblog.com/2012/05/27/pri… 3 hours ago
- #Prisonervotes is generating some strong and contrasting opinions- see Aitken v David and Straw: guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/… telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/la… 2 days ago
- Fresh on the blog by Reuven Ziegler: the case for letting prisoners vote ukhumanrightsblog.com/2012/05/24/the… 2 days ago
- New from @rosalindenglish- police denied TV footage of Dale Farm evictions ukhumanrightsblog.com/2012/05/24/pol… 3 days ago
- Prisoner votes ruling continuing to have political repercussions guardian.co.uk/law/2012/may/2… #prisonervotes 3 days ago
- SC: for Art 6 compliance, cts can, in exceptional circumstances, extend period for filing and serving notice of appeal #extradition 3 days ago
Adam Wagner on Twitter
- RT @MsLods: UK: Barrister who called opposing lawyers "slimebags" on twitter struck off. telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/la… (ping @journlaw) 34 minutes ago
- Is David Mitchell being serious or not? Human rights … or just an excuse for Strasbourg to tell Britain what to do? gu.com/p/37pfb/tw 2 hours ago
- Prisoner voting, Bratza's replacement and peaceful protest > this week's UK #humanrights roundup just posted wp.me/pJiO3-3Fb 2 hours ago
- It's here! @charonqc tells it as it is > UK Blawg Review #10 – Part 1 j.mp/JG8V4Y 6 hours ago
- Oh! Extraordinary goings on at Charles Taylor's war crimes trial... > More on the Removal of Judge Sow j.mp/LnNQH1 2 days ago
- RT @koldo_casla: One of the best pieces I´ve ever read on the case for letting prisoners vote - Reuven Ziegler wp.me/pJiO3-3F7 via ... 2 days ago
- Recent posts
- Prisoner voting, Bratza’s replacement and peaceful protest – The Human Rights Roundup May 27, 2012 Wessen Jazrawi
- The case for letting prisoners vote – Reuven Ziegler May 24, 2012 1 Crown Office Row
- Police denied TV footage of Dale Farm evictions May 24, 2012 Rosalind English
- Time extended for appeals under Extradition Act May 23, 2012 Rosalind English
- Why no public appointment hearings for UK’s new European Court of Human Rights judge? May 23, 2012 Adam Wagner
- Don’t rely on human rights in a dismissal claim May 22, 2012 Martin Downs
- European Court of Human Rights retreats but doesn’t surrender on prisoner votes May 22, 2012 Adam Wagner
- Pssst… no secret hearings in naturalisation cases May 22, 2012 Isabel McArdle
Disclaimer
The case for letting prisoners vote – Reuven Ziegler
Posted in Case comments, European, In the news, Politics / Public Order, Prisons, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections, tagged Hirst No. 2, human rights, prisoner votes, Scoppola on May 24, 2012 | 3 Comments »
Last Tuesday saw the latest episode in the prisoner voting legal saga with the European Court of Human Rights’ Grand Chamber’s judgment reversing the Chamber judgment which found Italy’s automatic ban on voting for prisoners serving over 3 years in prison (and a lifetime ban with the possibility of future relief for those sentenced to more than [...]
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