PRISONERS LAW AND PRACTICE

Description: BOOK REVIEW

PRISONERS LAW AND PRACTICE

By Simon Creighton and Hamish Arnott

ISBN: 978-1-903307-71-7

Legal Action Group

www.lag.org.uk

ARE YOU INVOLVED WITH PRISONERS AND THEIR FAMILIES? If so, this book is essential reading for you and your advisers.

An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers

If you are called upon from time to time in a professional capacity to advise prisoners and their families, have a read of Prisoners Law And Practice. You may or may not feel the same way about prisoners -- and prisons -- ever again, particularly if -- unlike many barristers who may have routinely interviewed prisoners in cells as part of their training – you have never been inside a prison and have little or no inclination to do so.

Prisoners Law and Practice is one of the latest ‘adviser’ publications from the estimable Legal Action Group which continues admirably in its quest to compile, write and publish meticulously researched works of reference, mainly for professional advisers of those of our fellow human beings who, quite frankly, are desperate; from the homeless, to the unemployed, to asylum seekers and certainly to prisoners.

People who find themselves categorized within these groups are vulnerable. Attracting varying degrees of sympathy and disdain from the public, their human rights are all too often overlooked or compromised. They, like anyone else, require the protection of the law and they depend on the will of others to uphold and sustain it. As pointed out in the Foreword by Stephen Shaw, Prisons and Probations Ombudsman for England and Wales, ‘…without law, (in the case of prisoners,) the ever-present danger of neglect or abuse may go unchecked. ‘The subtitle “Law and Practice”,’ he adds,’ is well judged’.

Prisoners Law and Practice is an accessible and practical guide to the law governing prisons. It takes the reader logically along the path of a prisoner through the custodial process, from reception at prison, to categorization and allocation and related issues, to prison conditions and rights while in detention and the various mechanisms for release. There is a strong focus on prisoners’ rights and remedies and a critical analysis of the duties of the state toward those in detention. Relevant domestic and international case law, legislation policies and guidance are fully covered.

However, as Stephen Shaw observes, the book is much more than just a guide to the present state of prison law, it’s a work of advocacy, and there is at the heart of the text what he calls an intrinsic belief in the right of prisoners to be treated fairly, respectfully and in a manner that recognizes their inherent vulnerability.

To those who would argue that victims have rights and are even more vulnerable, the authors claim that this is a false dichotomy and that there is, or should not be, any conflict between prisoners rights and those of their victims. ‘…between the two groups – the issues of openness and accountability (are) at the heart of the concerns of both victims and prisoners….As with all attacks on vulnerable members of society, the erosion of the rights of prisoners should stand as a stark forewarning of the general erosion of wider rights in society.’

This is a distinguished and comprehensive work of reference for advisers within 12 chapters and 800 pages and it has aimed to reflect the law as it was at 30 April 2009 with the prison population at record levels.

ISBN: 978-1-90330771-7