We live in the age of high technology! - well some of you do

With the coming into force of the 1998 Human Rights Act on the 2 October 2000, the Prison Service issued a Prison Service Instruction: 'Computer's in Possession: Access to Justice" on 1st February 2001. This Instruction acknowledges Standing Order 5 and 16 and Prison Service Order 2605 of the Prison Service obligations to facilitate a prisoner's 'access to justice" and also recognises a prisoner's protection to access Justice under the European Convention on Human Rights. The Instruction was updated on me 1 February 2002 to expire on me 31 January 2003.

However, don't expect anything but promises and lip service to this Prison Service commitment and don't hold your breath waiting for an approval to have access to computers to carry out your legal work.

The Instruction comprises of over 40 paragraphs and does more to prevent one having access to justice if there is to be a reliance on the Prison Service undertaking. Following the issue of the Instruction, the Prison Service undertook to supply lap top computers to those who could demonstrate a legal need and in return the prisoner was expected to sign a compact which safeguards security and doesn't compromise the orderly day to day running of the prison? The Prison Service cannot have those who have genuine reasons and have satisfied the criteria, being in a position to undermine prison security can they ?

Never mind that for the innocent, prison is the last place that holds any interest. What the wrongfully convicted seek, are legal solutions to legal wrongs not situations that only compound their problems.

But being as they are, the Prison Service will as usual continue to make life difficult for anyone who dares to raise the slightest suggestion that they are innocent or wrongly convicted. As far as they are concerned, it is just not feasible that there are innocent people in prison, but then they have had many years experience in denying prisoners even their most fundamental rights and that includes the right to protest ones innocence without being penalised for it.

For the past 15 months, I have been trying to obtain computer access as part of the prison Service commitment to assisting those like me with access to justice. I am a bona fide appellant at the Court of Appeal with only limited legal aid at this stage and it has been necessary for me to carry out a lot of my own work.

Never mind that the state, has no limitations or restrictions on the information that it can access to convict someone. Has as many solicitors/barristers as they will need, no 'legal aid' for the state, just as much money as it wants to spend.

It is quite clear that properly presented documents and letters of which one is able to maintain copies of are a boon to those pursuing legal challenges, being that everything these days is required to be in writing and rightly so, how many of us have had letters and documents going astray?

I do not have a computer, no access to the Internet, I cannot fax or email, telephone calls are limited to my financial resources and photo copying is chargeable.

The Prison Service have told me that my access to a lap top computer and printer which they have agreed to supply through a firm called Electronic Data Services (EDS) is subject to a waiting list. The fact that they have only agreed to supply only 50 computers nation-wide means that for many prisoners their appeal or CCRC application will be history by the time a computer becomes available. One also has to take into account those who have yet to be tried and are banged up in local prisons where facilities are often sparse to say the least.

No wonder the state has the edge when it comes to the individual's so called right to access justice. They will throw the whole might of me state machinery at us including technology and the Prison Service will gladly go along with that. They cannot have prisoners daring to challenge their convictions or legal wrongs.

Whatever next?

"Prisoners will be claiming that they were fitted up, framed, railroaded by the criminal justice system, became victims of incompetent lawyers and had lies told about them and this will not be tolerated."

"How dare they?"

"Computers?"

"Well yes, one knows about the European Convention on Human Rights and a person's fundamental right to access justice and be given all the means necessary to achieve that, it is what in legal terms is known as 'equality of arms" but to the Prison Service equality of anything was never one of their strongest points was it?

I continue to wait for my access to a computer and printer, but I fear that after a 15 months wait so far, the lip service by the Prison Service to assist me and indeed all the other hostages with one's access to justice is just another mechanism, seeming to be honouring a commitment to fairness but at the same time continuing to snub us all.

The right of a prisoner to purchase or borrow a relative's computer is a no go area and I have known of cases where prisoners have succeeded in being funded by a charity for a computer to carry out legal and educational work only to have the prison return the cheque to the charity.

When it comes to justice and innocence, I'm afraid that they are words that has little meaning for the Prison Service and certainly has no place in their vocabulary, indeed I would be surprised if they knew how to spell the words.

As ever in Struggle

�� Charles Hanson

V V1638

HMP Kingston

Milton Road

Portsmouth

P03 6AS

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Irish suicides spark claims of vendetta in British prison

Police probe seven bizarre deaths in three years at Brixton jail as suspicion falls on ex-Army warders

The suicides of seven Irish inmates in a British prison have prompted an investigation into claims that the deaths are linked to a revenge campaign by warders who previously worked as soldiers in Northern Ireland.

Just 4 per cent of prisoners in Brixton prison in London are Irish, but since December 1999 all seven suicides in the prison have involved inmates from the Irish community. The deaths have caused deep concern in the Irish Republic and embassy staff are demanding answers.

The Metropolitan Police is also investigating an alleged serious sexual assault of an Irish prisoner by a prison officer and a member of the medical team last Thursday.

In May the Prison Service set up an internal review into abuses at Brixton to be conducted by the governor of neighbouring Wandsworth prison, Jim Heavens. This will examine the background of all prisoners who have died, suffered self harm or complained to the race relations officer at Brixton since 1998, and report on whether any groups were at a higher risk. There have been 10 deaths in that time and the authorities have recognised that six of these were Irish and the seventh a British national with Irish parents.

The Careers Transition Partnership trains around 100 armed service 'leavers' as prison officers each year for the Ministry of Defence. A spokesman said trainees received strict instructions on harassment, bullying and racial awareness. Father Gerry McFlynn of the Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas said he had already raised the issue of the former Army personnel with the Heavens inquiry. 'Brixton is one prison where this is happening but we also see it in other London prisons and some in the Midlands,' said McFlynn. 'I have been told by prisoners over the past four or five years of this intimidation.'

The Prison Service review was originally due to report in mid-August. It was later postponed to October. The Home Office says it will now not be published until the end of the year. 'Either they have lifted up the stones and there is more crawling out than expected or they have lifted up the stones and they don't know how to handle it in public relations terms,' said John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, who will raise the issue of the deaths in the House of Commons this week.

The wave of suicides began on 12 December 1999 when 28-year-old Fulton O'Shea was found alongside his Turkish cellmate, hanging from bedsheets. A 'chatty' letter from O'Shea to his mother was found next to his body. The inquest returned an open verdict.

Marion Fegan, the widow of the second Irishman to die, Derek Fegan, said prison officers admitted they could not understand his strong Irish accent. The inquest decided there had been serious neglect by the prison. 'My husband was on remand and mentally ill. People go to prison to be punished, not to lose their lives. At the end of the day I have no husband and a baby with no father,' said Fegan.

In February 2001, Kevin Sheridan from Clonmel, Co Tipperary, committed suicide after only a day in Brixton. The inquest was told that a vital piece of resuscitation equipment was missing from the doctor's bag as was essential adrenalin. A month later, 31-year-old Michael Barry from Cork was found dead in his cell despite being on suicide watch. Like Sheridan he had a history of mental illness. A witness at his inquest said prison officers had ignored the alarm light flashing on his cell.

This year two further prisoners committed suicide. In March Patrick Gavin, a member of the Irish traveller community awaiting trial for blackmail and kidnapping, was found hanged.

Two months later, on 9 May, the family of Terry Doyle received a call from the prison saying the 29-year-old remand prisoner had been taken to King's College hospital after a suicide attempt. He had only been in the prison for two days. When his mother, Margaret, arrived at the hospital late that evening Terry Doyle was wired to a life support machine but his brain had already died. The machine was switched off three days later.

Margaret Doyle told The Observer her son was a known drug user, but medicine to control his withdrawal prescribed by prison doctors had never reached him: 'He spoke to the doctor and said he was suicidal. He asked to be moved to a medical ward and was told it was full. He had already tried to commit suicide once before, but they never told us. It was neglect. Something needs to be done at that place. It seems very odd that all these deaths are Irishmen.'

McDonnell has taken up the allegations of ex-Army bullying of Irish prisoners in a number of parliamentary questions to the Home Office but has been told that it would not be possible to examine the large numbers of files involved and interview several hundred staff, many of whom no longer worked for the Prison Service.

Martin Bright and Paul Donovan, Sunday October 27, 2002

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Police killer Roberts wins secret file case

Britain's most notorious police killer, Harry Roberts, won a legal victory yesterday against the Home Secretary in his campaign to be released from prison. Roberts, who has served 36 years for the murders of three unarmed officers, made a High Court challenge over a refusal by David Blunkett to allow his lawyers to see a dossier of "sensitive material" which could decide whether he is freed.

The court was told that Mr Blunkett now agreed that the parole board, not the Home Secretary, should decide if the secret evidence should be disclosed, and exactly who should see it. Roberts' solicitor, Simon Creighton, said: "I think it hard to say anything other than it is a climbdown."

Calls for the release of Roberts on parole are strongly opposed by police, and Mr Creighton said the case had been "delayed at every turn" by the Home Office. "The sensitivity of the case for a politician is probably at the root of this and it highlights the very reasons why these decisions should not be made by a politician, especially one who has responsibility for the police and the prisons."

Mr Justice Sullivan, sitting in London, said he was pleased that the Home Secretary had deferred to the parole board. The judge said it would be "very surprising" if evidence alleging that someone was unsuitable for parole was not disclosed "in some form or other".

Mr Blunkett must disclose the dossier to the board within seven days. The Home Office and Roberts' lawyers then have a week to persuade the board that the material should be made available to the prisoner's representatives. The evidence is thought to relate to police intelligence when Roberts was allowed out on day release to work at an animal sanctuary. He was returned to a closed prison amid concerns over his behaviour. He is now at Channings Wood, in Devon.

Roberts was given life with a tariff of 30 years for killing Detective Constable David Wombwell and Sergeant Christopher Head. His partner, John Duddy, shot Constable Geoffrey Fox. By Ian Burrell, The Independent,19 October 2002

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Blunkett defeat in police killer's fight for parole

Britain�s most notorious police killer won a battle yesterday to force David Blunkett to release a secret report blocking his attempt to win parole.

Hours before the start of a High Court hearing, the Home Secretary agreed that lawyers for Harry Roberts, serving life for the murder of three police officers in 1966, may see a dossier of evidence sent to the Parole Board.

Mr Blunkett's change of heart could hasten the release of Roberts, 66, who is one of Britain's longest-serving prisoners. He is now a category C inmate at Channings Wood in South Devon.

The dossier is believed to have covered Roberts's activities last year when he was on day release from open prison. He was alleged to have been seen in London with criminals when he was supposed to be working at an animal sanctuary. He had also been taking driving lessons, which he was not allowed to do.

Roberts was moved to a closed prison, but applied for parole. In May his lawyers learnt of the dossier and the Parole Board decided that they should see the evidence against him. The Home Office diagreed and the action was launched with Roberts's lawyers arguing that there was no other process where someone could be deprived of liberty on the basis of secret material.

Mr Justice Sullivan was told that the Home Office and lawyers for Roberts had agreed that the Parole Board should decide what to do with the dossier. It will be seen by a lawyer for Roberts or, if it was considered very sensitive, it might be read by a specially appointed and vetted independent lawyer chosen to act for Roberts.

Simon Creighton, Roberts's solicitor, said that the Home Office position had delayed a parole hearing for months. It could now be heard before the end of this year or early next year. He said that Roberts denied any wrongdoing while in prison, but until the allegations were known it was difficult to refute them.

Roberts is the last living member of the gang involved in the Shepherds Bush shootings in West London. Three police officers stopped a van carrying Roberts, John Duddy and Jack Witney, as they fled from an armed robbery. Roberts shot Detective Constable David Wombwell dead at point-blank range. He then turned the gun on Sergeant Chris Head, shooting him in the back. Duddy then shot dead PC Geoffrey Fox.

Duddy and Witney were arrested quickly, but Roberts went on the run for three months. At an Old Bailey trial, Mr Justice Glynnes sentenced Roberts to a minimum of 30 years. His criminal record includes a seven-year term for beating a man so badly that he later died. He tried to escape 22 times and was refused parole in 1996.

Witney was murdered in a hostel and Duddy died in jail.

By Stewart Tendler, The Times, October 19, 2002

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Suicide jail chiefs 'more concerned over lesbianism' Claire Gardner, Scotland on Suday

Prison chiefs were more concerned about a "cult of lesbianism" than overcrowding at Scotland's only women's jail in the months before a spate of suicides.

Clive Fairweather says he was told the main problem at Cornton Vale was sexual relations between inmates shortly after he took up his post in 1994.But in the following 15 months, six women were to kill themselves inside the notorious jail, the victims - according to their families - of chronic overcrowding and an uncaring regime.

Only last month, inmate April Adam, 35, became the 11th woman found hanged at the jail, near Stirling, since 1995. Fairweather says the extent of the problems at Cornton Vale became apparent shortly after he took up his post.He had pulled together a team of experts to conduct his inspections, including a deputy and a consultant doctor with experience in drug addiction.

He says: "The manifestation at Scotland's only female institution was three hangings and a number of suicide attempts in as many months, whereas I had been told the main problem was a cult of lesbianism. "A fourth death caused me to abruptly cancel a planned visit to Longriggend Remand Institution, and instead an expanded inspection team was rushed to Cornton Vale."Once more I was shocked, this time by the near bedlam conditions found in some areas such as the remand block.

"Research clearly indicated that most women were more of a danger to themselves that they were to the public," he writes.

Jim Bollan, the father of Cornton Vale suicide victim Angela Bollan, who hanged herself in a cell in 1996, is a firm supporter of Fairweather's stance and is still campaigning for fewer petty criminals to be sent to Cornton Vale. Bollan was outraged to hear that months before his daughter killed herself prison chiefs thought the only problem was a lesbian cult. "It's an ignorant view and they clearly failed to spot the real issue - many of the women should not have been there in the first place," he said. "There were, and still are, big issues to be tackled, drugs problems and the fact that so very many of the women should not be there in the first place."

Single mum Angela, 19, was one of eight young women who killed themselves at the prison within a 30-month period. She was in the jail awaiting sentencing after stealing items worth just �19 to feed her heroin addiction.

SNP deputy justice minister Michael Matheson said the Executive had failed to tackle the issue of overcrowding in Cornton Vale. "They have failed to bring in sufficient alternatives to custody and they have failed to cut the number of female prisoners even though they made a commitment to it," he said. A spokeswoman for the Executive said a ministerial group had been set up specifically to address the number of women in Cornton Vale.

She added: "The Executive is looking at ways of addressing long term issues about the prison population and while prison must remain an option to the courts there are some cases where alternatives to custody will provide ways of addressing offending behaviour without a prison sentence."