Miscarriage of Justice Day Saturday 8th October 2011

Arches Project
Adderley Street
Birmingham
B9 4EE

Doors open 10.00 am     No charge, no need to book - just come along Everyone opposed to miscarriages of justice welcome

10.30 - 12.30 am  Workshops: please bring your questions and tell us about your own experiences

Getting the best out of solicitors / obtaining case documents, led by Dr Andrew Green

Starting a group, led by Steve Gray             Banner Making, led by Ange Drozdowski

2.00 - 5.00 pm
Public Meeting Speakers confirmed so far:

Kevin McMahon will introduce United Against Injustice              Paddy Joe Hill: What has changed in the last 20 years?

Dr Michael Naughton, founder of Bristol University Innocence Project and the Innocence Network UK

Michelle Diskin, sister of Barry George (wrongly convicted of the murder of Jill Dando)

Sam Raincock, Cell Site Analysis expert                  Joint Enterprise: speaker to be announced

Hosted by West Midlands Against Injustice

As soon as more information is available, it will be posted on the UAI website http://www.unitedagainstinjustice.org.uk/

Cost of prison accommodation per place

Category B £36,818
Category C £35,718
Male local £37,637
Male open £30,677
Male open YOI £46,003
Semi open £37,542

Cluster £36,195

Female closed £54,039
Female local £59,096
Female open £47,858
Male closed YOI (age 15 to 21) £48,738
Male YOI young people (age 15 to 17) £79,551

House of Commons Hansard / 12 Sep 2011 : Column 1022W

A disturbing theme that pervades the Prison Inspection reports, is the persistent failure by prison after prison to treat disabled prisoners with 'A duty of care'.

Inquiry into disability-related harassment reports

Adam Wagner UK Human Rights Blog, September 13th 2011

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published Hidden in plain sight, a report into disability-related harassment and how well this is currently being addressed by public authorities.

The report, which finds a "systemic failure by public authorities to recognise the extent and impact of harassment and abuse of disabled people" can be downloaded here, the "easy read" version here and the executive summary here. I have also reposted the Executive Summary via Scribd below. The Inquiry found, amongst other things:

* Cases of disability-related harassment which come to court and receive media attention are only the tip of the iceberg. Our evidence indicates that, for many disabled people, harassment is a commonplace experience. Many come to accept it as inevitable.

* Disabled people often do not report harassment, for a number of reasons: it may be unclear who to report it to; they may fear the consequences of reporting; or they may fear that the police or other authorities will not believe them. A culture of disbelief exists around this issue. For this reason, we describe it as a problem which is 'hidden in plain sight'.

* There is a systemic failure by public authorities to recognise the extent and impact of harassment and abuse of disabled people, take action to prevent it happening in the first place and intervene effectively when it does. These organisational failings need to be addressed as a matter of urgency and the full report makes a number of recommendations aimed at helping agencies to do so.

* Any serious attempt to prevent the harassment of disabled people will need to consider more than organisational change, although that will be an important precondition to progress. The bigger challenge is to transform the way disabled people are viewed, valued and included in society.

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Remand in Custody [ where parent is main carer for children ]

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on (a) steps to require that pre-sentence reports consider family circumstances and (b) the feasibility of introducing a statutory obligation on the judiciary to check whether arrangements have been made for children whose parents or carers are remanded in custody. [70573]

Mr Blunt: Officials from a range of Government Departments, including the Ministry of Justice, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and the Department for Education, are working together to contribute to the cross-Government to support families with multiple problems, including the children and families of offenders.

The Children Act 2004 requires inter agency co-operation to safeguard and promote the well being of the child and NOMS specifications set out that Probation Staff have a responsibility to identify the safeguarding needs of children and promote their welfare of an offender's children when preparing pre sentence reports.

A statutory obligation on the judiciary has been considered, and been discussed at Official's level with the senior judiciary and voluntary and community sector groups. Raising awareness is our main focus and a statutory obligation is not being further considered at this time.

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will consider introducing a statutory obligation on the judiciary to inquire as to whether arrangements have been made for children whose parents or carers have been remanded in custody. [70574]

Mr Blunt: ( )A statutory obligation on the judiciary has been considered,( )and discussed at official's level with the senior judiciary and voluntary and( )community sector groups. Raising awareness is our main focus and a( )statutory obligation is not being further considered at this time.

The Children Act 2004 requires inter agency co-operation to safeguard and( )promote the well being of the child. Probation staff working in court or( )preparing pre-sentence reports have a responsibility to consider the impact of( )custody on an offender's children. If there is a likelihood of custody then( )children's services will be alerted to ensure arrangements are in place to( )safeguard the well being of any children.

Officials are currently working to ensure that this system of assessment and( )referral is as robust as possible by establishing minimum standard( )specifications for both pre-sentence report assessment and court practice.

House of Commons / 8 Sep 2011 : Column 818W