Prisoners' Rights

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Doughty Street Chambers is the home of prison law. Our practitioners have been involved in most of the leading cases over the last twenty years from Findlay, Doody, Simms and O'Brien, Daly, Smith and West and Anderson to Stellato, cases which not only expanded the rights of prisoners but frequently advanced the development of public law itself.

Through the extraordinary work and commitment of Edward Fitzgerald QC, what was once an esoteric area of public law has developed into a distinct specialism covering every aspect of the exercise of state power over the lives of prisoners.

We offer representation at all levels of practice from silks to the most junior tenants. Together with unrivalled experience and expertise in prison law, our members also specialise in other related fields. With this diverse set of skills we are able to deal effectively with any issues that arise from judicial review and human rights claims, adjudications, parole board hearings, civil actions against the detaining authorities, discrimination claims, inquests, data protection, freedom of information, inquests, clinical negligence and personal injury claims, and public inquiries. Our judicial review work covers the entire spectrum of decision making within the prison estate ranging from categorisation, parole, ROTLs, offending behaviour work, closed visits, transfers within and out of prison, for example, to hospitals and resettlement.

Most practitioners are identified as leaders in the field of administrative law, civil liberties and police law in Chambers & Partners, with descriptions ranging from "a fantastic driven advocate with an amazing brain", "one of the best silks for police and prison law", to "simply brilliant" - no one can compete with her when it comes to prisoners' rights'.

Team Members

Seminars & CPD

• Resettlement for Adult Prisoners - a training course for community care practitioners

  

  Wednesday 24 March 2010 from 18:30 to 20:00

  Speakers: Naomi Lumsdaine (Prisoners' Advice Service) and Caoilfhionn Gallagher (Doughty Street Chambers) Location: 54 Doughty Street Chambers, London, WC1N 2LS CPD: 1.5 Points The …

  
  

• Judicial Review Summary

  

  Tuesday 27 April 2010 from 18:30 to 20:00

  Speakers : Quincy Whitaker (Doughty Street Chambers) and Matthew Evans (Prisoners' Advice Service) Location : 54 Doughty Street Chambers, London, WC1N 2LS CPD : 1.5 Points All public …

  
  

Cases

Notable cases include:

• SP v Secretary of State for Justice [2009] EWHC 13 (Admin) - A former prison governor and prison service area manager was not sufficiently independent to undertake an investigation into the treatment of a young offender during her detention as in the past he had been closely concerned with the policy areas upon which he was being asked to formulate recommendations in the investigation and he had previously had a social acquaintanceship with a possible witness.
• R (on the application of P) v Secretary of State for Justice [2009] EWCA Civ 701 - Where there was no immediate risk to an offender's life from his regular self-harming and the secretary of state had relied on medical advice of an appropriately qualified doctor that he did not require hospital treatment, there had been no breach of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 art.2 or art.3 caused by a delay in transferring him from a young offenders' institution to a psychiatric hospital, and no duty to undertake an inquiry into his detention arose. Application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court pending.
• R (AB) v Secretary of State for Justice [2009] EWHC 2220 (Admin) - successful judicial review of the SSJ's refusal to transfer a male to female pre-operative transsexual with a full gender recognition certificate to the female estate.
• Scott v Ministry of Justice - judgement awaited from the Crt of App - whether prison officers who made false allegations of assault against a prisoner which lead to his prosecution can be "prosecutors" for the tort of malicious prosecution
• Adesola Adelana v (1) Governor of Downview prison (2) Secretary of State for Justice [2008] EWHC 2612 (Admin) - The policy of the Secretary of State for Justice in the Prison Service Order 6300 "Release on Temporary Licence", that a prisoner with a consecutive sentence in default of payment of a confiscation order was ineligible to apply for release on temporary licence during the original sentence, was unlawful as it fettered his discretion. However, a decision letter refusing a particular prisoner release on temporary licence was not susceptible to judicial review because her case had been considered outside the policy.
• R (JL) v Secretary of State for Justice [2009] 1 AC 588 - threshold for and content of article 2 ECHR investigative duty re near suicide in prison
• Iqbal v Prison Officers Association - whether the Prison Officers Association is liable in false imprisonment for calling a strike on 29 August 2007 which led to prisoners remaining in their cells when under the ordinary regime they would be unlocked for work and/or association - judgment reserved before the Court of Appeal.
• R (Stellato) v SSHD [2007] 2 AC 70. Appeal against the Home Secretary's attempts to give retrospective effect to the more stringent recall provisions contained in the Criminal Justice Act 2003
• R (Smith) v SSHD [2006] 1 AC 159. Need for continuing review of minimum term for HMP detainees even though fixing of term judicialised
• R (Hammond) v SSHD [2006] 1 PLR 1. Power to hold oral hearings in fixing the minimum term of existing mandatory lifers under the Criminal Justice Act 2003
• R (Smith and West) No 2 v Parole Board [2005] 1 WLR 350. Application of article 5(4) ECHR to a determinate sentence prisoner
• R (Greenfield) v SSHD [2005] 1 WLR 673. Application of Article 6 (criminal charge) to prison disciplinary proceedings and assessment of damages under the Human Rights Act
• R (Giles) v Parole Board [2004] 1 AC 1. Application of Article 5(4) ECHR to longer than commensurate determinate sentences
• R v SSHD ex parte Anderson [2003] 1 AC 837. Challenge to the power of the Home Secretary to fix the minimum term for mandatory life prisoners
• R v Pyrah and Lichniak [2003] 1 AC 903. Compatibility with Articles 3 and 5 ECHR, and section 1 of the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 - challenge to the mandatory nature of the sentence of life for murder
• R v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Simms and O'Brien [2000] 1 AC 115. The right of prisoners protesting their innocence to conduct face to face visits with journalists
• R v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Doody [1994] 1 AC 53. The right of mandatory lifers to be given an opportunity to make informed representations on their tariffs