PAS’s Women Prisoners’ Caseworker, Camilla Pandolfini, has acted for two women prisoners in a Judicial Review case in which they successfully challenged a refusal by the prison to grant them Childcare Resettlement Leave (CRL). Both prisoners are the sole carers for children under the age of 16.

A press release with further details of the case may be found in the Reports section, under ‘Articles and Press Releases’.

PAS recently won an Ombudsman’s judgement on behalf of a prisoner at HMP Wakefield, who was being refused possession of a book he had bought because it was not obtained from an approved supplier. The book – ‘Prisoners – Law and Practice’ – had been purchased via an advert in a prisoners’ newspaper by means of a cash disbursement, as agreed beforehand with the prison, but when it arrived it was placed in stored property. There was, however, nothing in the book’s contents that made it inappropriate for the prisoner to own, and it was also freely available in the prison library.

The Ombudsman upheld the complaint. There was nothing inappropriate in the content of the book, and the prison’s decision was unnecessarily bureaucratic. Given that there was no objection to the book in principle, it was recommended that the prisoner should be allowed to keep it in his possession.

PAS has been lucky enough to be supported by two runners in April’s Brighton Marathon, who are raising funds for the work that we do to support and uphold prisoners’ legal rights.

Daniel Holmes and Stephen Alexander will both be running in the event on Sunday 15th April, and we will be featuring regular updates on their training progress.

Please visit Daniel’s funding page

PAS has recently been granted permission to pursue to Judicial Review a case around deductions to prisoners’ earnings, a case in which it is representing two clients at different prisons.

This case arises directly from the enactment in 2011 of the Prisoners’ Earnings Act 1996 (through Prison Service Instruction 48/2011). This Act means that prisoners working for external employers will be subject to a 40% net income levy on earnings over £20 per week, a levy that will be paid to the charity Victim Support.

As a result, many prisoners have been placed in a position where they are no longer able to save money in preparation for their release, funds that will be needed to go towards housing and other living costs. Therefore the newly-introduced Act poses a grave threat to rehabilitation in many cases, including those which PAS is currently pursuing.

In a blog on The Lawyer website, writer David Allen Green has made positive reference to the article written by PAS’s Managing Solicitor Matthew Evans concerning the collapse of the ‘Cardiff Three’ prosecution, the biggest ever miscarriage of justice trial in the UK.

The original article by Matthew, written for the Justice Gap website, can be found here.

The PAS offices will be closed from 17:30 on Friday 23 December, opening again on Tuesday 3 January, with the advice line open as usual on Wednesday 4 January.