Legal Advice for Older and Disabled Prisoners

Working with Older and Disabled Prisoners: May to August 2020

PAS continues to assist older and disabled prisoners in England and Wales, despite ongoing restrictions to prison access which has meant the suspension of our Outreach Clinic service. Our core telephone advice line remains open however, with the number of calls received from prisoners continuing to increase. Currently 21% of our callers are older prisoners, whilst 34% identify as having a health condition. Meanwhile 28% of the letters we receive are from older prisoners, with 58% of the letters from those with a health condition. During the last quarter, our website has had over 22,200 views, with our self help toolkits proving popular to visitors. 

Case Study: PAS Upholds Prisoners' Rights in Lockdown

Several prisoners in one of the largest prisons contacted our Advice Line some weeks into the lockdown complaining of the internal policy relating to time out of their cells and access to video visits. Prisons have been running restricted regimes in response to the covid-19 pandemic, but this prison had a written behaviour management policy during the pandemic, whereby access to time out of their cells – 30 minutes each day – and access to video visits would be restricted where prisoners were deemed to breach this policy.

There have been some legislative changes to prisoners’ regimes however time out of cells, which is a statutory minimum, is unaffected.

PAS wrote to the prison in question to remind them that time out of their cells was a statutory right to which prisoners are entitled and which could not be restricted except in very limited circumstances. We also made the case that video visits, a new initiative in prisons, were intended to ameliorate the stinging loss of face to face visits during the lockdown and ought to be viewed as having similar status to mandatory rights. The prison governor responded to our letter stating that they had reviewed the behaviour policy and removed the loss of time out of cell and access to video visits as sanctions.

In Conclusion

Prisoners’ Advice Service remains most grateful to GlobalGiving for helping to support our work with older and disabled prisoners in England and Wales. It is particularly relevant at this time, as the Coronavirus restrictions mean continued distress for prisoners and their families. The donations we receive from individuals such as yourself are crucial to enable us to continue providing this vital support.

Working with Older and Disabled Prisoners

Changes to our services as a result of the Coronavirus situation

Due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, on 12 March 2020, PAS suspended it’s Outreach Clinic service in prisons. However we have been able to keep our Telephone Advice Line open, and have increased the number of Caseworkers answering calls. We have seen a sharp increase in the number of calls from prisoners, receiving over 4,300 calls between the 12^th of March and 9^th of April. Caseworkers are dealing with a range of questions, including physical and mental health issues.

PAS has called on the government for the release of low risk prisoners and those who are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus. We have also composed a Compassionate Early Release letter template, which can be downloaded on our website and be used by anyone to advocate for a prisoner’s early release.

Case Study - Pas Helps Sickle Cell Anaemia Sufferer to Be Released to Self-Isolate at His Father’s

PAS received a call to our Advice Line last week, from a prisoner to due to be released to an Approved Premises (AP) on Friday, despite the fact that he has Sickle Cell Anaemia, which is one of the highest risk groups for coronavirus infection and full-blown COVID-19. As the AP would be shared with other residents, the prisoner was scared, worried about exposure to the coronavirus, but had been told by the Parole Board that he had no option but to be released there.

The prisoner’s father had offered to accommodate his son so he could safely self-isolate for the recommended 12 weeks for Sickle Cell and his Offender Supervisor (OS) had been trying to contact the Offender Manager (OM) for three weeks in order to enact this arrangement, but without success. The prisoner had had three OMs recently and did not know the name of the most recent one. PAS advised that we’d attempt to contact the OM to make informal representations for the prisoner to be released to his father’s place of residence.

With the help of a very good London-based Probation Officer, previously known to PAS, we managed to track down the OM and suggested a Home Circumstances Report – over the phone – and prompt change to the prisoner’s licence in light of Public Health England’s Guidance on vulnerable groups and coronavirus. We then spoke with the OM on the phone again and were assured that a new Home Circumstances Report had been done and that the prisoner would be released to his father’s as we wanted.

In Conclusion

Prisoners’ Advice Service remains most grateful to GlobalGiving for helping to support our work with older and disabled prisoners in England and Wales. It is particularly relevant at this time, with older and disabled prisoners especially at risk in light of the Coronavirus pandemic. The donations we receive from individuals such as yourself are crucial to enable us to continue providing this vital support.