Search Results for: prisoners/page/23/ministers have been procrastinating on the issue, fearing that it will prove unpopular with the electorate.
24 August 2021 by Guest Contributor
The UK’s exit from the European Union raises many questions for continuing cross-border arrangements and the legal proceedings that follow. This is no less the case in the area of police and judicial cooperation. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) has governed all arrangements since January 2021. Since people accused of crime will continue to travel, what does this mean for an individual’s ability to challenge requests from EU member states to UK authorities? These arguments are well known in the UK: how can we return people to Poland for prosecution of such minor misdemeanours as dessert theft? Should we be returning people to Lithuania given the appalling prison conditions?
Part 3 TCA introduced a new “surrender” arrangement with the EU to replace the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). It also replaced the other measures that in 2014 the UK concluded were necessary for law enforcement when it exercised the Protocol 36 to the Lisbon Treaty option to depart from police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, and then opted back into 35. Alongside the EAW, these included the European investigation order, supervision order, instrument on transfer of prisoners and various others. These measures resulted from the mutual recognition project that sought to make law enforcement speedier and more effective. Part 3 TCA now provides for cooperation with Europol and Eurojust, operational information exchange and mutual assistance.
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27 October 2013 by Adam Wagner
Just a quick post to tell you about three things I have coming up which you might be interested in:
1. This Wednesday 30 October from 10:30am I am giving evidence to the Joint Select Committee on the Draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill, along with Joshua Rozenberg – full details here. The hearing will be broadcast live online. I will be talking about how media reporting and public perceptions of the European Court of Human Rights has affected the prisoner voting debate.
2. Then, also on Wed 30 Oct, in the evening, I’m taking part in a panel debate with BPP Fresh Perspectives on Law, which will explore the aftermath of the revelations about the NSA and GCHQ’s communications surveillance programmes. Also speaking: Paul Bernal, Lecturer in Internet and Media Law, University of East Angli; Ben Hayes, Statewatch and Alex Lawson, Lecturer, BPP Law School. Places are free but you have to sign up here.
3. Finally, on Wednesday 20 November I am joining lots of excellent lawyers in a charity mentoring event, raising money for Anna Verrico’s cancer treatment. Tickets are £10, a great cause, all details here.
And that is all.
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8 May 2012 by Adam Wagner
Remember the far right? They are back. The ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn party has just won 7% in the Greek elections. Although it rejects “neo-Nazi” labels, its symbolism and style clearly channel fascist parties of the past. It has a Swastika-like logo and inflammatory anti-immigration policies. And for those who thought ultra-nationalism was confined to the history books, this YouTube video of leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos‘s victory speech will be particularly unsettling. To members of the audience who stayed after a black-shirted thug screamed at them to stand up for the leader’s entrance, Mr Michaloliakos made the ominous promise that “a “new golden dawn of Hellenism is rising” and for those “who betray this homeland the time has come to fear”.
The recent successes of far right parties in Europe, which have benefited from recession protest votes and anti-immigration populism, is indeed something to fear. But it also presents an opportunity to reflect on the importance of international human rights standards.
In the ongoing debate over the role of a European system of human rights law, lip service is often paid to the origins of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in post-war Europe. The rise of Fascism had killed tens of millions. The Nuremberg trials, an early experiment for international justice, had been a success. A Europe-wide system of rights protection seemed sensible. It still does.
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26 February 2018 by Dominic Ruck Keene
In Razumas v Ministry of Justice [2018] EHWC 215 a prisoner who had made a claim for clinical negligence against the Ministry of Justice, rather than against the specific health care provider, had his claim dismissed.
In a judgment that sheds light on the current approach to both vicarious liability and non-delegable duties of care, Cockerill J held that: (1) the MOJ had not breached its limited direct duty of care, (2) did not owe a non-delegable duty of care and (3) was not vicariously liable.
The Claimant alleged that there was a negligent failure to diagnose and treat a soft tissue sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, which developed in his calf muscle in 2010. He has since had to undergo a left leg amputation above the knee and also surgery for metastatic disease in his left shoulder muscle. It is estimated that there is a 70% chance that he will develop further metastases in the future. His life expectancy has been sharply reduced.
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8 September 2025 by Jennifer Zhou
In UK News
The Sentencing Bill 2025 was introduced by the government. The Bill follows a major review into sentencing by former Justice Secretary David Gauke, and accepts the majority of its recommendations. It aims to follow the prison overcrowding crisis through measures including:
- Creating a presumption that custodial sentences of less than 12 months will be suspended (subject to a number of exceptions);
- Empowering courts to give a greater range of community orders, including bans from certain venues and events and ‘restriction orders’ limiting movement;
- Extending suspended sentences to max. three years (up from two years);
- Allowing courts to defer sentencing for up to 12 months (up from six months), so that offenders can demonstrate good behaviour;
- Setting a minimum release point of 33% for standard determinate sentences (down from 40%);
- Allowing foreign prisoners to be removed from UK prisons without first serving a minimum period of custody.
Controversially, the Bill also imposes an obligation on the Sentencing Council to obtain permission from the Lord Chancellor and Lady Chief Justice before issuing sentencing guidelines. This follows a furore in early 2025 over draft guidelines which included wording about an offender’s ethnicity.
The refugee family reunion scheme has been temporarily suspended. Yvette Cooper (who was Home Secretary before a Cabinet reshuffle on Friday) announced that migrants granted asylum will be temporarily unable to bringing partners and children to the UK. The suspension will continue until the government has imposed further conditions on the scheme through legal changes.
Comedy writer Graham Linehan was arrested over tweets about transgenderism, including one which referenced punching trans women ‘in the balls’. The arrest has been criticised by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as well as members of the shadow cabinet. Mr Linehan is currently also being tried for harassment in relation to an altercation with a transgender activist.
In International News
France has issued arrest warrants for Syrian ex-president Bashar al-Assad, his brother, and five other officials regime officials. Al-Assad has been living in Russia since being deposed in December 2024. These warrants relate to the 2012 bombing of a press centre in Homs; French photographer Rémi Ochlik and American journalist Marie Colvin were killed. The bombing is being investigated by the French judiciary as a war crime and crime against humanity.
In the Courts
The Home Office has received permission to challenge a High Court ruling allowing Palestine Action to appeal its proscription under terror legislation. Palestine Action, a group founded by Ms Huda Ammori, was banned as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. In a judgment dated 30 July 2025, Ms Ammori was granted permission by the High Court to appeal this proscription. Now, the Home Office has won the right to challenge the 30 July ruling. In an unpublished order seen by the press, the Court described the government’s appeal has having ‘a real prospect of success’; it is due to be heard on 25 September.
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3 November 2010 by Matthew Flinn
Broom v Secretary of State for Justice [2010] EWHC 2695 (Admin) – Read Judgment
When he was transferred from Whitemoor prison to Wakefield Prison in May 2008, Mr. John Broom had 24 historical photos of his children and nieces confiscated. He had been in possession of those photographs for 18 years. He challenged the decision not to return the photos to him by way of judicial review, claiming that it breached his right to respect for his private or family life. Mr Justice Behrens concluded that there was no infringement of Article 8 of the ECHR in this case.
Mr. Broom is currently serving a discretionary life sentence following his conviction in 1992 for buggery and rape of a female. There were two females involved, one of whom was 16. The nature of this conviction was central to the decision to withhold Mr. Broom’s photographs. The Safeguarding Children Panel said that:
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28 February 2012 by Rachit Buch
Why should we bother with the European Convention on Human Rights? Many of those that would never contemplate leaving the ECHR still question whether we should abide by controversial decisions such as those on prisoners’ voting rights or deportation. UCL’s Professor Richard Bellamy attempted to answer this question at the Statute Law Society’s talk on Monday evening. He said that the UK should abide by the ECHR, which gains its legitimacy by being the best way for democratic states regulate their relationships and protect their citizens’ rights.
The talk was entitled ‘The Democratic Legitimacy of International Human Rights Conventions’ (IHRCs). Although perhaps not in such terms, this is a topic that exercises many every week: from those questioning who exactly decides which human rights are the ones that count, to those asking why ‘unelected judges’ in Europe can tell a democracy how to govern itself. Professor Bellamy started by noting that mature democracies are generally less keen on IHRCs; at the post-war inception of the ECHR, he said it was Germany and Italy showing most enthusiasm. Even now, many ‘democratising’ countries show less opposition to Europe’s human rights structures.
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16 September 2024 by Emilia Cieslak
In UK news
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, has announced a public inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane. Mr Finucane was a solicitor working in Belfast who had represented high profile IRA prisoners. He was killed by loyalist paramilitaries from the Ulster Defence Association in 1989 and a previous review by Rt Hon Sir Desmond de Silva QC found “frankly shocking levels of collusion” between the paramilitaries and state agents. In 2019, a Supreme Court judgment found that the British government failed to discharge its obligations to investigate state-caused deaths under article 2 ECHR through the da Silva Review which, among other things, did not have the power to call witnesses. Geraldine Finucane, Mr Finucane’s widow, commented in a statement: “An independent, statutory public inquiry is and was the only way to bring the whole truth behind the murder of Pat Finucane into the light of day”. The Secretary of State has said: “This government takes our human rights obligations, and our responsibilities towards victims and survivors of the Troubles, extremely seriously”.
The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary has just published the newest edition of the Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide. The guide covers all the stages of judicial review proceedings, and is available here, for the perusal of practising and aspiring lawyers (as well as interested others).
In international news
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organisation has criticised the inadequate international response to the conflict in Sudan. Since April 2023, over 20,000 have been killed and over 10 million people are displaced, while 25.6 million people (around half of Sudan’s population) are facing high levels of food insecurity. Ghebreyesus has called for an immediate ceasefire with a lasting political solution as well as a scale up in the delivery of humanitarian aid. Human Rights Watch have published a report about the flow of foreign arms which are sustaining the fighting. Human Rights Watch have traced the weapons to China, Russia, Iran, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates, and argue that weapons such as armed drones, rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles have been used in attacks against civilians. Human Rights Watch is calling for an arms embargo for the entirety of Sudan, and a sanction regime to punish those violating the existing arms embargo on Darfur.
Mélanie Joly, the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister has announced the suspension of 30 licences for arms sales to Israel, in addition to blocking a contract with the US government to send ammunition produced in Quebec to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). The UK has also suspended 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel, stating that “there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law”. NGO Global Action Legal Network, partnering with Palestinian NGO Al-Haq, is in the process of challenging continued UK weapons exports to Israel.
In the courts
The High Court has quashed the grant of planning permission for a new coal mine at Whitehaven, Cumbria. The Secretary of State had previously admitted an error of law as the downstream emissions caused by the inevitable burning of the extracted coal were not factored into the Environmental Impact Assessment, thus the appeal was litigated by the mine owner West Cumbria Mining. The High Court did not accept the argument that coal mined in Cumbria would substitute coal extracted elsewhere to meet market demand, or the argument that the mine would have a “net zero” impact because West Cumbria Mining pledged to purchase carbon credits.
A contractual dispute between Tesco, the Union of Shop Distributive and Allied Workers, and a small group of Tesco’s employees has shone a new light on controversial “fire and rehire” practices. In 2007, Tesco closed down some of its distribution centres and opened new ones in new locations. To persuade staff to relocate they offered enhanced pay referred to as “retained pay”. Employees were told that the retained pay was permanent. In January 2021, Tesco decided to “phase out” the retained pay in exchange for a lump sum, and told employees that if they did not did not accept this change their contracts of employment would be terminated and they would be rehired on new contracts with the retained pay removed. The Supreme Court held that there was an implied term, required for business efficacy, that Tesco could not terminate the employees’ contracts to rehire them without the retained pay. The mutual intention of the parties was that the retained pay would serve as an inducement for experienced workers to relocate and this would be undermined if Tesco had the right to unilaterally remove the retained pay at any time for its business purposes.
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28 September 2010 by Adam Wagner
Sutyagin
I attended a talk this morning given by Igor Sutyagin, a nuclear scientist who was detained for 11 years on charges of treason. He was released in July as part of the high-profile spy-swap with the United States.
Hearing Sutyagin’s description of the Russian justice system, as well as the “gulag” he was sent to for over a decade, brings into focus the enormous difference between legal systems within Europe. In the UK we can confidently expect that courts and judges will uphold the rule of law and act with impartiality. Whilst there are notable exceptions, our legal system has checks and balances in order that poor decisions can be weeded out. That system is imperfect but at least it is predictable and, on the whole, fair.
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14 April 2014 by Rosalind English
Smith, R (on the application of v Secretary of State for Justice and G4S UK Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 380 – read judgment
This case raises the question of whether it is a breach of a non-smoking prisoner’s Convention right to respect for his private life and to equality of access to such rights (ECHR Articles 8 and 14) to compel him to share a cell with a smoker.
The appellant, a convicted sex offender serving a long sentence, was required between 21st and 28th March 2012 to share a cell with a fellow prisoner who was a smoker. It was known to the prison authorities that the appellant was a non-smoker, and the requirement to share with a smoker was contrary to his wishes. The sharing complained of ended when the appellant was transferred to another prison on 28th March 2012.
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7 December 2010 by Adam Wagner
The arrest of Wikileaks chief Julian Assange has meant that the Ministry of Justice’s “radical” reform program for the criminal justice system has received less attention then it might otherwise have.
Although clearly accidental, the timing may suit the justice secretary, who has received criticism from within his own party in relation to his plans to send thousands fewer offenders to jail in the coming years. The MoJ have said:
The green paper on sentencing and rehabilitation sets out plans to break the destructive cycle of crime and prison by ensuring that jails become places of hard work, that rehabilitation programmes are opened up to innovation from the private and charitable sectors, paid by results, and that the priority will now be to reduce the reoffending by people after they have been punished.
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11 February 2013 by Rosalind English
Ali Hussein v Secretary of State for Defence [2013] EWHC 95 (Admin) – read judgment
Collins J has dismissed a claim that the MOD’s policy of allowing interrogators to shout at a captured person in order to obtain information is unlawfully oppressive. Not only did the complaint fail but it was denounced as “misconceived” and one which should never have been pursued.
Background
British armed services have two policies for questioning captured persons (CPERS) who are believed to possess valuable information which may protect the lives of other members of the forces or civilians, for example the location of roadside bombs.
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3 November 2010 by Richard Mumford
On 1 November 2010 the Terrorist Asset-Freezing etc. Bill received its third reading in the House of Lords. The bill, which started in the Lords, must now be passed by the Commons before receiving Royal Assent.
The Bill represents the coalition government’s response to the Supreme Court’s decision in HM Treasury v Ahmed (incidentally, the first appeal to have been heard in the Supreme Court) concerning the lawfulness of measures enabling the Treasury to freeze the assets of, amongst others, a person whom it has reasonable grounds for suspecting is or may be a person who facilitates the commission of acts of terrorism.
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5 December 2011 by Melina Padron
Welcome back to the human rights roundup. Our full list of links can be found here. You can also find our table of human rights cases here and previous roundups here.
by Melinda Padron
In the news
The Government’s Green Paper on secret evidence
In my previous roundup, I mentioned that the government had published a Green Paper which proposed the extension of “closed material procedures”. Last week, the blogger Obiter J wrote a three-part detailed piece about the Green Paper and its proposals, which you can read here and here. In our blog, Adam Wagner pondered whether more trials should be held in secret, whilst Angus McCullough QC expanded on Adam’s piece, offering his comment from the perspective of an experienced Special Advocate.
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26 April 2013 by Guest Contributor
The Guardian reports that Prime Minister Cameron is considering denouncing the ECHR on a temporary basis in order to facilitate the deportation of Abu Qatada. As tennis legend John McEnroe might have put it ‘you cannot be serious!’ In order to remove one man from the jurisdiction the government is contemplating removing the protection of human rights for all. One suspects that this announcement by Downing Street was little more than ‘dog-whistle’ politics with the local elections looming next week. But what if the government is really serious? Two quick thoughts come to mind.
Firstly, the UK is on the face of it able to denounce the ECHR under the terms of Article 58, though see below. But even after a denunciation the ECHR will remain fully applicable for six months. Presumably the government would wait for the six months to expire. It would then seek within domestic law to remove Qatada. As this would also require the suspension or repeal of the Human Rights Act 1998 this would require an Act of Parliament. No doubt a political and constitutional storm would break as a result. This would of course not be the end of the matter because the decision would be judicially reviewable, no doubt under an enhanced form of anxious scrutiny. How further forth would the government be then?
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