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I am currently engaged on a letter campaign to highlight two aspects of Frank's case:
1. His case illustrates the Catch 22 situation of prisoners maintaining
innocence and over tariff
2. Unlike some prisoners in that situation, Frank has undertaken offending
behaviour work but this is simply not being recognised by the system, probably
through sheer inefficiency.
Here is an update on this campaign:
Local MPs
I have finally had responses from the two local MPs - Angela C Smith (Labour Member for
Sheffield Hillsborough - my constituency,
see
letter here) and Alan Campbell (Labour Member for Tynemouth, the
constituency Frank was living in at the time of his arrest,
see letter here). I have to say I am
disappointed
in both, though Alan Campbell has at least done something. Given the emphasis placed by so
many MPs in their responses to me on the convention that MPs only raise issues brought to them
by their own constituents, I had expected better. It is heartening that not all MPs feel bound
by this convention - see below!
House of Commons
We now have a group of four MPs who have demonstrated a willingness to get involved as
follows:
- David Howarth (Liberal Democrat Member for Cambridge and Shadow Solicitor General)
Two questions suggested by me were recently tabled as written questions to the Secretary
of State for Justice by David Howarth. Thank you, David! Maria Eagle this week answered
the questions on behalf of the Secretary of State. The report in Hansard reads as follows:
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners
currently serving sentences in Her Majesty's prisons are beyond their original or adjusted
tariff; and of these, how many are maintaining innocence of the crime for which they were
convicted. [241545]
Maria Eagle: On 8 December 2008, there were 3,867 indeterminate sentenced prisoners in
custody recorded as being beyond their original or adjusted tariff.
This figure is taken from the Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD) within the National
Offender Management Service. As with any large scale recording system, it is subject to
possible errors arising from either data entry or processing.
No central recording of prisoners maintaining innocence is maintained. To establish how
many prisoners are beyond their original and adjusted tariff and maintaining their
innocence would require a manual checking of individual records, which could be carried
out only at disproportionate cost.
This reply has prompted me to ask for further information from the Open Government Unit at
the National Offender Management Service - see the NOMS section below.
- Malcolm Moss (Conservative Member for North East Cambridgeshire - HMP Whitemoor is in
his constituency)
- Richard Benyon (Conservative Member for Newbury - has previously been involved on
another case with my mother which had a successful outcome)
- Chris Mullin (Labour Member for Sunderland South)
By happy coincidence, Chris Mullin has a meeting scheduled with the new Head of the
Criminal Cases Review Commission in the near future and has promised to raise with him
the predicament facing prisoners who decline to admit their guilt. He has also promised to
seek an appointment with the Head of the Parole Board about the matter. Thank you, Chris!
House of Lords
I at last manged to get a letter off to every Member of the House of Lords in the first week
of December - see attached sample letter. Though it's early days yet, I've had a number of
helpful replies (all emails, interestingly - so much for the House of Lords being out of
touch!) as follows:
- Lord Carlile of Berriew QC (currently President of the Howard League for Penal Reform)
has said that Frank's case is of interest to him. He has aked to see a summary of the
campaign's activities, and any judgments of the Court of Appeal or responses of the
Criminal Cases Review Commission. I have sent him an envelope containing probably more
than he bargained for!
- Lord Ramsbotham (Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales from
1995 to 2001 and still very active in this field) is part of a team fighting for justice
for someone who spent 30 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, and who has since
been fighting the CCRC for 5 further years. Lord Ramsbotham is waiting until the end of
January, when a formal response from the CCRC should have been received, before making an
outspoken complaint to Jack Straw. When he writes, he says he will certainly mention
Frank's case also.
- Baroness Stern (currently Senior Research Fellow at the International Centre for
Prison Studies, King's College, London, and active in the criminal justice field for over
30 years) has said she will look into whether the issue can be raised in the
House of Lords, most likely through written questions to the Minister.
Thank you to all three of you!
National Offender Management Service
In response to the answers provided by Maria Eagle to David Howarth's written questions, I am
asking for further details from the Open Government Unit at NOMS (
see letter here).
After a couple of weeks' silence, I have had a further reply from the Briefing and Casework
Unit at NOMS (
see letter here). I think we
have
come to a dead end here, so I am taking the campaign forward by homing in on the issue of
Frank's Offending Behaviour work going unacknowledged (
see letter here). This letter has been sent to:
- HM Chief Inspector of Probation
- HM Assistant Chief Inspector of Probation
- Director General, NOMS
- Director of Probation, NOMS Probation
- Head of Public Protection and Licensed Release (NOMS Unit), NOMS Probation
- Head of Offender Assessment and Management Unit, NOMS Probation
- The East of England Regional Offender Manager
- The North East Regional Offender Manager