Prisoners’ charities win right to challenge legal aid cuts

By The Press Association28th July 2015News EnglandCourts / Justice, Custodial Care, News England, Vulnerable Adults

Charities acting for prisoners have won permission from the Court of Appeal to challenge legal aid cuts they say are “inherently unfair” and threaten to cause injustice to vulnerable inmates.

Three appeal judges overturned a High Court ruling that blocked the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Prisoners’ Advice Service (PAS) from applying for judicial review.

The charities say individuals in the prison system, including inmates with mental health problems and mothers with young babies, will suffer injustice following Government decisions to remove the right to criminal legal aid in many prison law cases.

Allowing their challenge to go ahead, Sir Brian Leveson, president of the Queen’s Bench Division, said: “On the face of it, based on the present material, I am prepared to accept that there could be a significant number of individuals subject to these types of decisions for whom it may be very difficult to participate effectively without support from someone.

“It is arguable, therefore, that without the potential for access to appropriate assistance, the system could carry an unacceptable risk of unfair, and therefore unlawful, decision making.”

Lord Justice Tomlinson and Lady Justice Sharp agreed.

Sir Brian said the question of inherent unfairness “concerns not simply the structure of the system which may be capable of operating fairly, but whether there are mechanisms in place to accommodate the arguably higher risk of unfair decisions for those with mental health, learning or other difficulties”.

Such difficulties could effectively deprive them of the ability effectively to participate in the decision-making process.

The Howard League and the PAS welcomed the court’s decision and said they have been inundated with requests for help from children and prisoners since the cuts were introduced in December 2013.

The charities added the loss of access to legal aid coincided with an “unprecedented deterioration of safety standards” in English and Welsh prisons and a rise in suicides, compounded by staff shortages.

The charities argued in court that there were seven key areas of work cut from the ambit of legal aid that carry an unacceptable risk of unfairness.

These included Parole Board cases where prisoners apply for transfer to open prisons and pregnant inmates ask to be allocated to mother and baby units.

The also included prisoners fighting segregation or wanting access to offending behaviour work to progress them through the prison system – or seeking help to obtain a suitable home to go to on release from prison.

The Howard League’s chief executive Frances Crook said: “We welcome today’s decision, which offers hope to children and young people in prison.

“The Howard League’s legal team has represented many hundreds of children in prison and we want them to thrive inside and on release. Legal aid gets them the best help to achieve that.”

Deborah Russo, joint managing solicitor at PAS, said: “The legal aid cuts to prison law have resulted in prisoners’ access to justice being severely curtailed with the consequence of further isolating an already very marginalised sector of our society.

“We therefore welcome today’s judgment, which now allows for a full hearing of the case and are thrilled to be now given the opportunity to put forward our case for legal aid for the most deprived and disadvantaged of prisoners.”